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The Week in Reviews, Op. 534: Gil Shaham, Blake Pouliot, Simone Porter

January 27, 2026, 5:20 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.

Gil Shaham and others pay tribute to John Williams in a concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons.

• Boston Classical Review: "On Thursday, Shaham, back in Boston for the first time since 2017, was fully in his element, drawing out the sweet warmth of his instrument in TreeSong’s songful parts while navigating its central, scherzando passagework with vigor and precision. His account of the extended cadenza was commendably soulful."
• Boston Musical Intelligencer: "Through all the evocative and sometimes ecstatic meanderings, violinist Gil Shaham presided as sweet-toned and genial tour guide. Though at quiet levels much of the time, he glowed with committed tone and embraced the warmth of old-school slides, especially in the lyrical, middle-movement, which contains a tribute to Williams’ late wife."

Blake Pouliot performed Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 with the Prague Philharmonia in Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center, and in Carnegie Hall.

• EarRelevant: "Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3, with soloist Blake Pouliot, was a revelation....Pouliot is a wizard both musically and technically. He produces a big, rich sound, and his cadenzas were stunning—precise, focused, and immaculately shaped. Yet the most striking aspect of the performance was that it did not feel like Villaume’s Mozart, but Mozart’s Mozart."
• New York Classical Review: "Pouliot...favored the audience with an encore, his own arrangement of the traditional Irish song “The Last Rose of Summer,” its tender, falling melody gently elaborated with double-stops."

Simone Porter led a concert called "Enlighten Me" with the New Century Chamber Orchestra.

• San Francisco Classical Voice: "Violinist Simone Porter exudes positive energy, from the confident way she takes the stage to her welcoming manner as she delivers insightful remarks to an audience. She was absolutely the perfect choice to lead New Century Chamber Orchestra in a weeklong teaching encounter with students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music."

Sarah Kwak performed Berg's Violin Concerto with the Oregon Symphony.

• Oregon Artswatch: "...soloist Kwak conveyed an openness and a sense of happiness – sometimes with phrases that were slightly echoed by the orchestra. "

Geneva Lewis performed Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D minor with Symphony San Jose.

• San Francisco Classical Voice: "With faultless technique and crystal clear sound, she displayed a profound intimacy with her instrument. Both graceful and formidably imposing, she made her 18th-century Guadagnini sing, executing masterful double stops and precision even at the extremes."

Alina Ibragimova performed Stravinsky's Violin Concerto in D major with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Hankyeol Yoon.

• Bach Track: "A highlight was Alina Ibragimova's exhilarating rendition of Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in D major. Ibragmiova literally dug in (the hairs were flying off her bow) to harness the savage character of this guttural work."

Joshua Bell performed the Brahms Violin Concerto and directed the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in Cadogan Hall.

• Bach Track: "Why don’t we celebrate Joshua Bell more vociferously?...In the Violin Concerto of Brahms, the ageless virtuoso...avoided all trace of rhapsodic overkill but gave a performance that was sumptuously romantic for all that."
• The Times: "This was a performance with gusto and guts."

Isidore Quartet performed at Northwestern University's Winter Chamber Music Festival.

• Chicago Classical Review: "The group’s refined, lightish sonority is well suited to Classical-era repertoire, and the Isidores led off Friday with music of Haydn, the String Quartet in B-flat major, Op, 76, no. 4."

Leonidas Kavakos performed Korngold's Violin Concerto with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden.

• Bach Track: "His open and expansive sound offered a surprising informality. Jazzy slides and lush romanticism full of Hollywood glamour partnered beautifully with Laurens Woudenberg’s horn solos. If Scarlett O’Hara had descended those red-carpeted stairs, no-one would have blinked an eye"

Please support music in your community by attending a concert or recital whenever you can!

You might also like:

• The Week in Reviews, Op. 533: PatKop, Himari, Vadim Gluzman
• The Week in Reviews, Op. 532: Augustin Hadelich, Vadim Gluzman, Randall Goosby
• The Week in Reviews, Op. 531: Benjamin Beilman, Renaud Capuçon, Maxim Vengerov

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