Virtuoso violinist Jennifer Koh, a favorite of Kennedy Center audiences, returns to perform Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Slovakian Juraj Valcuha. The chief conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai of Turin, Italy, Valcuha is making his NSO debut.
If you go
Jennifer Koh performs Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the National Symphony Orchestra
Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday to Saturday
Info: $20 to $85; 202-467-4600; kennedy-center.org
“I’m looking forward to working with him for the first time,” Koh said. “Depending on the orchestra and the conductor, I discover nuances about the Szymanowski [concerto] that are emotive, but intimate, and give the audience a chance to hear and appreciate the contrasts. It’s so amazing the way the orchestration gives such a lovely balance between the violin and the other instruments. The only way I can describe the piece is that it’s sexy, very sensual, and one of the most wonderful to play.” Koh’s many awards include the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Avery Fisher Career Grant. As one of the most active violinists in the world, she appears regularly as a soloist with major orchestras and as a recitalist in countless venues, among them the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, Marlboro and Spoleto.
“When I’m planning a recital program, I like to create a journey I can share with the audience,” she said. “There usually will be a composer or piece I’m obsessed with at the time, and I sometimes select the other pieces because of a subconscious connection between the composers. My main goal is to find something that will be interesting to the audience, often new music that will be a thread to the past.”
Koh’s recordings encompass the classics and 21st century works for solo violin, many of them written for her by such composers as Augusta Read Thomas and Jennifer Higdon. Last month, she premiered a new commission for her by Klas Torstensson with the Nieuw Ensemble in Amsterdam.
“I love his work on both intellectual and emotional levels,” she said. “I’m often more connected to something written in the past five years than to works by someone long dead. When something is being written for me, I like to leave the composer alone and not interfere with the process. Because we’re both intimately involved with the piece, when I perform it, it’s about uncovering and giving insight to the composer through what is written and our conversation about it.”
Along with her busy performing and recording schedule, Koh makes certain that youngsters learn the joy of music through her Music Messenger Program which she presents in classrooms throughout the country. Because music would have remained a huge force in her life even had she not become a professional musician, she believes that all children can use the process of learning music as a metaphor for how one lives and is open to new experiences.
“Being a musician is 99 percent learning to listen, and listening to music is a wonderful way to add to the quality of life,” she said. “That is why I want the Kennedy Center audience to discover that the Szymanowski concerto, with its wonderful wash of sound and emotional content, is one of the most beautiful orchestrations they will ever hear.”
