For the third year in a row young violinists of the Zakhar Bron School of Music have taken part at the Golden Festival in Herrliberg. In August 2022 ten our most advanced violin students performed on the festival stage together with the String Ensemble of the Zurich Chamber Philharmonic.

The most popular pieces of the violin repertoire were selected for the ‘Southern Dreams, Southern Fire’ concert. Two most famous violin pieces by Camille Saint-Saëns – ‘Havanaise’ and ‘Introduction & Rondo capriccioso’ – were impeccably performed in the beginning of the concert by Alexandra Taub and Nina Gringolts respectively (both students of Liana Tretyakova). Spanish theme dominated in the concert. The youngest ZBSM violinists – Kimia Corke (class of Liana Tretyakova) and Lena-Lisa Rosa (class of Inna Khriplovich) – played ‘The Spanish Dance’ and ‘Introduction & Tarantella’ by Pablo de Sarasate.

Another highlight of the concert was The Carmen Fantasy by Pablo de Sarasate – the fantasy for violin and orchestra on the opera ‘Carmen’ by Georges Bizet. It was beautifully performed by Sophie Branson (class of L.T.) and was followed by a standing ovation of the audience. The Spanish theme was continued by Moe Zurcher (class of Alexaner Kuznetsov) with ‘Caprice basque’ – yet another piece by Sarasate. Both Sophie and Moe, despite their young age, are very experienced violinists and have played with several orchestras while studying at the ZBSM.

Two pieces by Paganini – ‘Cantabile op.17’ and ‘La Campanella’ – were played by our promising students Emanuel Reinhardt (class of A.K.) and Nikita Koller (class of L.T.). Finally, the concert was closed by our multi award-winning student Ilva Eigus (class of L.T.) who played ‘Tzigane’ by Maurice Ravel and ‘Meditation’ by Jules Massenet. By the way, the performance of ‘Tzigane’ brought Ilva the first prize with distinction in the finale of the Swiss Youth Music Competition 2022.

Photo credit: Evgenia Pronina