5 star reviews for Emily Sun and Elena Kats-Chernin AO
Elena Kats-Chernin’s new violin concerto, Fantasie im Wintergarten, received its world premiere as part of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s concert ‘Wild’ at Adelaide Town Hall on 21-22 April 2023, conducted by Benjamin Northey.
- “Listening to this complex and intricate work was an engrossing experience. It has a strongly theatrical flavour, opening with a tango theme and interlaced throughout with swirling dance themes… Emily Sun brilliantly realises this wonderful piece of writing.… Kats-Chernin’s Fantasie im Wintergarten is a magnificent addition to her oeuvre and to violin literature, and Sun’s performance… was magical. Sun has said that she expects the concerto will remain an important part of the repertoire, and she is certain to be proved correct.” [5 stars]
– Limelight Magazine, 2023 (read the full review here) - “The premiere of a wonderful new violin concerto by Elena Kats-Chernin, with exceptional playing by soloist Emily Sun, made ASO’s Wild one of the outstanding orchestral concerts of the year.
Fantasie im Wintergarten certainly had some darker moments, as all Kats-Chernin’s music tends to do, but primarily it is a work of pure melodic beauty… Along the way there was a good dose of circus fun and hijinks, but the concerto is more magical than macabre: lyrical and sometimes veering into the sorrowful, it treats the violin primarily as a singer. […]
The third movement begins with emblazoning rhythmic energy but drifts into a rhapsodic vein that grows in sadness towards the conclusion. This long, variegated finale almost stands as a work by itself and contains some of Kats-Chernin’s most sublime, fluidly expressive music.
As its soloist, Emily Sun was key to the concerto’s conspicuous success in this world-premiere performance. A fresh new work can have the performers guessing, but she played it like it was second nature, with the most wonderful lyricism and polished rhythmic verve. … Sun wins profound respect from this performance, and the orchestra itself played with fine precision under conductor Benjamin Northey.
– INDaily, 2023 (read the full review here)
- “a shining performance… As always, Sun brought the music to life and imbued it with deep emotion.” [5 stars]
– ArtsHub, 2023 (full review here)
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