On July 29, 2023, young ZBSM violinist Ilva Eigus (16) gave a solo recital at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad—one of the world’s most prestigious classical music festivals—as part of the ‘Jeunes Étoiles III’ concert series for young artists.
Ilva opened the concert with Eugène Ysaÿe’s Sonata for Solo Violin No. 4, a work of exceptional artistic and technical complexity, dedicated to Fritz Kreisler, whom Ysaÿe greatly admired as an outstanding violinist and musician of unique artistic refinement.
Ilva’s performance was marked by a rare maturity of musical thinking for her age, technical excellence, and a subtle sense of style. She shaped the work’s dramaturgy with confidence, combining clarity of sound with vivid expressiveness and inner intensity.
The program continued with Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Sonata in F minor, a work of early Romanticism written at the very beginning of the composer’s creative career and relatively rarely performed today. Ilva chose this piece deliberately, as she is particularly drawn to works that are seldom heard in concert and less familiar to a wider audience.
The final work of the program was Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in D major, by one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. Originally written for flute, the sonata was later transcribed for violin by the composer himself in 1944 at the request of David Oistrakh.
As an encore, Ilva Eigus and Alexandra Dovgan (piano) delivered a virtuosic performance of the famous scherzo by Johannes Brahms from the F-A-E Sonata (Frei aber einsam — ‘Free but Lonely’).
The Menuhin Festival Gstaad is a legendary annual classical music event in Switzerland, founded in 1957 by the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Each summer, the festival takes place in the breathtaking Alpine settings of Gstaad and the Saanenland, presenting more than 60 concerts featuring outstanding musicians and young talents from around the world.
The spirit of the festival is rooted in Menuhin’s ideals of music, friendship, and education. Concerts are held in intimate halls, historic churches, and the large festival tent, bringing together tradition and innovation. The program includes chamber and symphonic music, masterclasses, and cultural projects that support young performers and unite musicians of different generations.
Ilva Eigus became the first student of the Zakhar Bron School of Music to be invited to perform at this festival. This milestone represents an important achievement for ZBSM, confirming the school’s high international standards of musical training and its recognition on one of the world’s most prestigious festival stages.
Ilva Eigus is one of the most outstanding young violinists of her generation in Switzerland, having made an early impact on both the national and international stages. She began studying the violin at the age of three and a half in the class of Liana Tretiakova at the Zakhar Bron School of Music, started giving concerts at the age of six, and has performed with symphony orchestras since the age of eight.
Over twelve years of violin studies at the Zakhar Bron School of Music under the guidance of her teacher, Ilva has built an extensive repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. She has performed in prestigious concert halls across Europe and beyond, winning first prizes and special awards at national and international competitions.
Among Ilva’s most significant achievements to date are First Prize at the International Television Competition for Young Musicians The Nutcracker in Moscow (2021), Second Prize at the 15th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poland (2021), and her debut in a sold-out concert at the Tonhalle Zürich with the Prague Royal Philharmonic (2023).
Tags: Ilva Eigus, Liana Tretiakova, Menuhin Festival Gstaad
Categories: Festival Performances
