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The Week in Reviews, Op. 535: Augustin Hadelich, Randall Goosby, María Dueñas

February 3, 2026, 2:33 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.

Augustin Hadelich and pianist Orion Weiss performed in recital at Boston Symphony Orchestra’s "E Pluribus Unum" Festival at MIT’s Thomas Tull Concert Hall.

• Boston Musical Intelligencer: "Having been together performing American music, which Hadelich lamentably reports is little known in Europe and elsewhere, the twinlike artists grandly represented the motto, 'out of one, many,' proposed by our founding fathers in 1776. Music and celebration have been twins since time immemorial, and encountering the very best of the best vividly brought home a sense of attachment to country, especially during these pronounced times of unrest."

Randall Goosby performed the Barber Violin Concerto with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin.

• EarRelevant: "Goosby...delivered a performance marked by a warm, burnished tone and precise technique. He shaped the soaring Romantic lines of the concerto’s 'Allegro' with poise and rhythmic focus, brought introspection to the central 'Andante,' and launched the finale’s perpetual-motion 'Presto' with confidence and flair."

María Dueñas performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic and Manfred Honeck.

• Bach Track: "The evening opened with an impressive Philharmonic debut by the young Spanish violinist María Dueñas. Delivering a radiant rendition of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto – a work she performed with Honeck and the Vienna Symphony on a 2023 album – her elegant artistry and glowing tone were completely mesmerizing."

Nurit Bar-Josef and cellist David Hardy performed Brahms’ Double Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda.

• Washington Classical Review: "The high point was the second movement, its main melody in octaves placed right in the sweet spot of both performers’ best tone. In the middle section, Bar-Josef answered Hardy’s growling lines with glowing sweetness."

Geneva Lewis performed Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D minor with Symphony San Jose and François López-Ferrer.

• 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."

Stella Chen performed Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

• New York Classical Review: "On Saturday, violinist Chen’s daring leaps and flashing scales and figurations (driving the orchestral violins to feats of their own) may have been Vivaldi-inspired, but the whiplash rhythms and edgy attacks were pure tango."

Zoë Beyers performed Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the English Symphony Orchestra and Kenneth Woods.

• Arcana: "Beyers succeeded admirably in conveying that formal intricacy and expressive force which typify this work."

Anna Presler and cellist Leighton Fong performed "Grand Duo for Violin and Cello" by Hungarian composer Pál Hermann with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble.

• San Francisco Chronicle: "Presler and Fong played with zest and energy, with Presler’s tonal purity lending a plaintive quality to the Andante."

Lisa Batiashvili performed Magnus Lindberg's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and François Leleux.

• Bach Track: "This is not a concerto of melodies, rather an ambient poem in the greyish-blue monochrome of winter. Batiashvili’s virtuosity brought chilling high notes that cut through the acoustics of the hall, fluid passages that trickled like an ice water brook and rhythmic motifs that seemed to strain to break free from the frozen wasteland."

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

You might also like:

• The Week in Reviews, Op. 534: Gil Shaham, Blake Pouliot, Simone Porter
• The Week in Reviews, Op. 533: PatKop, Himari, Vadim Gluzman
• The Week in Reviews, Op. 532: Augustin Hadelich, Vadim Gluzman, Randall Goosby

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