Ji Won Kim in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto headlines orchestra’s season opening concert.

Eldon Hogan Performing Arts Centre, Xavier College, Kew

April 5, 2014

Entering the concert venue on Saturday night, there was the usual buzz of audience chitchat but a few things were different. Musicians, dressed in concert clothes could be seen mingling with guests and the smell of tea, coffee and refreshments, both savoury and sweet, was in the air.

The Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra, one of Melbourne’s premiere community orchestras, has been performing at least four concerts a year in Melbourne for the past 80 years. This evening, violinist Ji Won Kim was the star in an exciting performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

The concert began with a performance of Mozart’s Overture from Don Giovanni where conductor Mark Shiell was able to draw some fine playing from the strings in the eerie passages after the dramatic opening strokes.

Beethoven’s sunny Symphony No 2 in D Major was next and picked up where the Mozart left off with another slow and sustained introduction leading to a fiery first movement where the Zelman Symphony was in top form. There were some lovely moments from the woodwinds throughout, especially in the third movement; and in the joyful finale, the virtuosic string passages were wonderfully led by concertmaster Mary Johnston.

But the highlight of the evening was Ji Won Kim’s performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto which was given greater contrast than usual since the concerto appeared after interval instead of in the first half, which is the usual practice. Kim’s playing was consistently brilliant all evening and was matched by attentive playing in the orchestra.

The first movement’s dazzling central cadenza was given superb dramatic shape and the return of the opening theme was played most beautifully by both soloist and orchestra. After a lyrical account of the second, Kim gave a dashing performance of the finale where she excelled both in the dramatic exchanges with the orchestra and in the charming interludes of the second subject. The audience gave Kim a standing ovation and she responded with a heartfelt performance of the Adagio from Bach’s Sonata No 1 in G minor for solo violin.