A Visit From a Violin Virtuoso

Chamber Music San Francisco is starting its season with a bang. According to Director Daniel Levenstein, “Our lineup this season is the strongest one we’ve ever had, and the first two concerts — Sarah Chang on March 7, and the Stoltzman-Harrell-Levin Trio on March 13 — are especially compelling.”

Hearing Chang on recordings (she has made 20 CDs over the past 19 years) is great, but hearing her live is inspiring.

The technical skill and gifted interpretation that she showed in her first public performances as a young child prodigy have only improved as she matured, and though she often plays in much larger halls, the San Francisco setting is perfect for her. As Levenstein says, “Ms. Chang is a powerful, insightful musician, and to hear her playing Brahms and Franck in the relative intimacy of Herbst Theatre will be extraordinary for the audience.”

Her story is well-known, but worth repeating. Once she started playing violin at age 4, she almost immediately began studying at Juilliard, and within a year was performing with local orchestras. By age 8, she auditioned for Zubin Mehta and Riccardo Muti and was instantly engaged to perform with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Her debut CD was a classical music best-seller within a month; she was all of 10 when she recorded it. Since then, her accomplishments have included the aforementioned CDs, two DVDs, world premieres and noted collaborations with top musicians and conductors, numerous awards (including the Avery Fisher Prize in 1999 and Yale University’s naming a chair at Sprague Hall in her honor), and performances literally around the world, to rave reviews. Her tone and musicality and interpretation simply get better and better.

Behind the music, though, is a contemporary, 29-year-old woman, with a Twitter account, a serious (and admitted) addiction to shoes, and a passionate devotion to the Philadelphia Phillies. She loves performing, hates early-morning flights, and relishes the time she can spend at home with family and friends, even if she admits she sometimes feels as if she needs to reintroduce herself.

Even if you can’t make it to this concert, take a look at the rest of the series. For example, according to Levenstein, “the Stoltzman-Harrell-Levin project is rich in possibility; to see three top-flight artists playing together for the first time (particularly in a new piece composed specifically for them!) will be a wonderful and unique experience.” For those outliers who don’t want to come in to San Francisco, there are also performances in Walnut Creek and (new this year) Palo Alto. You’ll find, as Chamber Music San Francisco’s Web site proclaims, an exhilarating and memorable experience.