The Week in Reviews, Op. 512: Alexander Sitkovetsky and Nicola Benedetti; Vilde Frang; Jennifer Koh

August 13, 2025, 1:45 PM · In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world. Click on the highlighted links to read the entire reviews.

Violinists Alexander Sitkovetsky and Nicola Benedetti with the NFM Leopoldinum at the Edinburgh International Festival. Photo by Andrew Perry, courtesy of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Alexander Sitkovetsky and Nicola Benedetti performed in a tribute concert to Yehudi Menuhin with the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Bach Track: "Benedetti and Sitkovetsky gave a spirited performance (of the Bach Double), lively and dynamic in the opening, gracefully smooth in the centre, energetic and animated to end. Watching two childhood friends dovetailing phrases so elegantly cast a special spell, but it’s a poignant work for Benedetti who performed the Adagio aged 11 with Alina Abrigamova at Menuhin’s funeral and memorial services."

Vilde Frang performed the Korngold Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel.

Violinist.com: "...the highlight was the second-movement "Romance." Frang played its gorgeous opening melody with beautifully calibrated vibrato, timing and dynamics. By now this crowd was rapt and silent - she was creating a long, long musical line and keeping us hanging from that thread as it unspooled."

Jennifer Koh performed Jennifer Higdon’s "The Singing Rooms" with the Grant Park Orchestra and Giancarlo Guerrero.

Chicago Classical Voice: "Jennifer Koh’s artistry has long been grounded in the power of storytelling through her violin, and it was fascinating to behold the sheer tonal beauty and deeply introspective lyricism the Chicago-born virtuoso brought to the difficult solo part—qualities deftly matched by conductor, orchestra and chorus (the latter prepared by Christopher Bell)."

Augustin Hadelich performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Stéphane Denève.

The Aspen Times: "The details in Hadelich’s playing — a flourish in a few pickup notes that seemed to spring forth fresh energy, sweet colors to the enchanting canzonetta slow movement, bracing rhythmic vitality whenever the pace picked up — combined with his pinpoint accuracy to make for an exciting traversal of this familiar road. "

Kazuki Kyo, 14, won the Grand Prize in the inaugural Atlanta Festival Academy Young Artist Competition..

EarRelevant: "Born in Tokyo and trained in both Japan and the UK, Kyo received the competition’s top honor — a $10,000 award, the largest of its kind for youth classical musicians in the Southeast."

Joshua Bell performed Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole with the Grant Park Orchestra and Giancarlo Guerrero.

Chicago Classical Review: "Bell projected the virtuoso spirit of Lalo’s once popular work from his first declamatory statement, then brought a more delicate air to the Allegro non troppo’s gentle second theme without indulging in schmaltz."

Liya Petrova performed "The Lark Ascending" with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Nil Venditti at the BBC Proms.

The Guardian: "Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending received a poetic and thoroughly idiomatic reading at the hands of Bulgarian violinist Liya Petrova. The orchestra laid the velvet-cushioned groundwork over which Petrova soared with elegant phrasing, silvery tone and exquisitely delivered top notes."

Helen Kruger performed "Vivaldi's Seasons" with Australian Baroque & West Australian Opera.

Limelight: "At the heart of the concert was an unashamedly brash, foot-stomping take on Vivaldi’s Le quattro stagioni...The four violin concertos were electrifying – risky, imaginative, and rhetorically charged."

James Ehnes performed Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Summer for the City Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center and Joana Carneiro.

Bach Track: "Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto is not a favorite of mine, and soloist James Ehnes was unable to change my mind despite a technically impeccable performance, by turns lyrical and demonically energetic."

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The Week in Reviews, Op. 512: Alexander Sitkovetsky and Nicola Benedetti; Vilde Frang; Jennifer Koh

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