Jennifer Koh

Jennifer Koh speaks about her solo violin project "Bach and Beyond"

Oberlin Artist Recital Series: Jennifer Koh from Oberlin College on Vimeo.

"Jennifer's "Bach and Beyond" recital at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor has been chosen as one of the top classical music performances of the year in Detroit."
— Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press

"Koh's program was a daring and intelligent thematic menu played with uncommon taste, flair and expressive acuity … Koh was as fearless in Salonen’s challenges as she was sensitive and bold in the night’s other works."
— Donald Rosenberg, Cleveland Plain Dealer

A Personal Statement by Jennifer Koh

I am launching Bach and Beyond in order to strengthen the connection between the Six Sonatas and Partitas by Bach to our present world through a historical journey of solo violin works to the very newest connections through the commissioning of new works by contemporary composers. The Bach and Beyond project consists of 3 programs with one Sonata and Partita of Bach beginning and ending each program. The first program consists of works ranging from Bach, Ysaye, Saariaho, Carter, and Salonen with a new video commission by Tal Rosner. The second program will feature the 1st Partita and 1st Sonata of Bach, Berio’s Squenza, and two new works written by Phil Kline and Anna Clyne . All works in this program consist of first compositions for solo violin. The third program will consist of Bach, Bartok, and a new work by John Harbison.

"Koh assembled a thoughtful and engaging program that didn't merely mix old and new music; it mixed media as well, with the inclusion of a film using live accompaniment. And her execution was so dynamic and so dramatically alive that the absence of anyone else onstage with her quickly came to seem no more than an irrelevancy …"— Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

BACH AND BEYOND PROGRAMS

2009-2011
Bach and Beyond Part I

BACH: Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006
YSAYE: Sonata No.2 in a minor, Op 27 No 1
SAARIAHO: Nocturne - In memory of W. Lutoslawski
CARTER: Fantasy - Remembering Roger
SALONEN: "lachen verlernt" (with video by Tal Rosner)
-intermission-
BACH: Partita No.2 in d minor, BWV 1004

2011-2013
Bach and Beyond Part II

BACH: Sonata No. 1 in g minor
PHIL KLINE: Partita for solo violin (new commission)
BACH: Partita No. 1 in b minor
-intermission-
BARTOK: Sonata for solo violin

2013-2015
Bach and Beyond Part III

BACH: Sonata No.2 in a minor
JOHN HARBISON: For Violin Alone (new commission)
-intermission-
BACH: Sonata No.3 in C Major

Jennifer Koh discusses Rhapsodic Musings

Jennifer Koh - Rhapsodic Musings on Vimeo

"She is committed, to her instrument, to the composers' visions, and to the anchoring ideal behind her continuing solo violin saga… Her program here, which had its well-received New York premiere recently and is the first of three "Bach and Beyond" programs planned, was anything but a casual grab bag. She has taken great care to create logical yet inventive links between the pieces involved, and as she told the audience after intermission, „it's really about the exploration of Bach…‟ A magical moment arrives as the intense minor mode urgings yield to a soft, fleeting major mode idyll. It's one of those quietly ecstatic moments in all of Western music that, when delivered with subtlety and assurance, make life worth living. It was, and it did…All in all, Ms. Koh's performance here made for a masterful and full-bodied musical evening, in the playing, concept and aesthetic vision, still in progress."
—Santa Barbara News Press

If you are interested in Jennifer Koh's BACH AND BEYOND Project please contact:

Opus 3 Artists
470 Park Avenue South
9th Floor North
New York, NY 10016

phone 212.584.7525
fax 646.300.8225