Violinist Nikolaj Znaider Performs Chamber Music at New York’s 92nd Street Y

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Znaider Can also Be Heard on a Stunning New CD of Brahms and Korngold Concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic Led by Valery Gergiev

Danish violinist and conductor Nikolaj Znaider (pictured) comes to New York ’s 92nd Street Y for a recital with musicians from the New York Philharmonic and pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar, on Sunday, March 15 at 3 pm. The program will feature chamber music by Felix Mendelssohn, a month after the 200th anniversary of his birth, with the beloved String Octet as its centerpiece, alongside his Piano Trio No. 1 and Bach’s Sonata for violin and harpsichord No. 4. Although Znaider has been a frequent visitor to New York in the past, with acclaimed New York Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall engagements, this concert will be New York audiences’ only opportunity to hear him before his return to Carnegie Hall next season with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

The recital comes on the heels of the February 2 release of Nikolaj Znaider’s new recording for Sony/BMG Masterworks. After debuting on the Billboard charts, this stunning CD has continued to gain critical praise. On the album, Znaider is joined by Russian conductor Valery Gergiev and the Vienna Philharmonic for performances of violin concertos by two of Vienna ’s great Romantic composers, Johannes Brahms and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. David Hurwitz of ClassicsToday.com called the CD “one of the finest recordings of the Korngold currently available, no doubt about it.” In reviewing Znaider’s performance of the Brahms concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra, Mark Satola wrote in Cleveland’s Plain Dealer:

“Znaider met Brahms’s challenge with a commanding, Apollonian technique. His bowing was flawless, moving among the strings seamlessly, and the triple-stopped chords in the lengthy first movement were played as precisely as if they had been sounded on a keyboard.

“Yet there was fire aplenty. Beneath Brahms’s hard-fought logic there is a suppressed passion that Znaider emphasized brilliantly in his phrasing and attack. At times, he seemed to communicate directly with the players around him, leaning in and playing like a chamber musician, so much so that it seemed he was co-conductor…”

Concert Details
Sunday, March 15 at 3 pm
92nd Street Y, New York , NY
Recital with musicians from the New York Philharmonic and Saleem Abboud Ashkar, piano
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49
Bach: Sonata for violin and harpsichord No. 4 in C minor, BWV 1017
Mendelssohn: String Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20

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