On Friday, 21 November 2025, ZBSM violinist Sophie Branson (19) performed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major with the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra of Szolnok, conducted by Andrés Uribe Jiménez, at the Cultural Center of Szolnok, Hungary.
The beautifully preserved 19th-century hall of the Cultural Center of Szolnok was full. The audience warmly received the young soloist from Switzerland and was deeply impressed by the elegance, expressiveness, and artistic maturity of Sophie’s performance.
For the first time, Sophie performed the famous concerto in its entirety, presenting all three movements in a single concert. Earlier in the year, she had performed the second and third movements in June 2025 with the Camerata Tchaikovsky in London, and the first movement in July 2025 at the MingClassics International Music Festival in Vitznau, Switzerland, with orchestra.
In preparation for the concert, two rehearsals with the orchestra were held: a one-hour rehearsal on Thursday and a general rehearsal immediately before the performance. In addition, the orchestra had begun rehearsing the work on Wednesday, when Sophie arrived in Hungary.
This concert marked an important milestone for the Zakhar Bron School of Music, launching a new collaboration with the International Concert Agency IMK Vienna. Founded in 1991, IMK Vienna has been organizing classical concert projects worldwide for over three decades.
This concert forms part of an extensive orchestral season ahead. Between November and December, Sophie is scheduled to perform four orchestral concerts in Hungary, Bulgaria, and Switzerland. Further performances are planned for February and March in Moldova and England, followed by at least two additional orchestral concerts in April in Germany. In total, a minimum of eight orchestral concerts with four different programmes are planned. Altogether, Sophie is expected to give around 20 concerts during the current academic year.
To prepare at the highest level for such an intensive concert schedule, Sophie maintains a daily practice routine of five to six hours, in addition to her regular studies at the Zakhar Bron School of Music.
Preparation for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 began in spring 2025. Performing this work marks an important milestone in Sophie’s artistic development. She was very satisfied with the result and noted the strong musical connection that developed with the conductor during the project.
Sophie Branson began studying violin with Liana Tretiakova, leading violin teacher and founder of the Zakhar Bron School of Music, in 2010, the year the school was founded. For the past sixteen years, Liana has been Sophie’s principal violin teacher. Sophie is currently enrolled in the Professional Programme and plans to pursue a career as a solo violinist.
We sincerely thank IMK Vienna for the invitation and the excellent organization of this project and look forward to further collaborations in the future. We would also like to express our special thanks to Andrés Uribe Jiménez, a Colombian conductor based in Vienna and currently completing his master’s degree in orchestral conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw), for the strong musical connection with the young soloist and his support on stage.
Photo credit: István Csaba
Tags: IMK Vienna, Liana Tretiakova, Sophie Branson, Sophie's Debuts
Categories: Concerts with Orchestra
