Violin competition concludes with brilliant concerto performances

 There could be little doubt that Karisa Chiu displayed an

Karisa Chiu, who has local family links

unmistakable star quality in her performance of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto Saturday night at Hilbert Circle Theatre. So it's not a matter of "recency bias," I hope, to find me unsurprised that the jury awarded her the gold medal in the twelfth quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.

Heard and seen live-streamed, with Leonard Slatkin conducting a thoroughly engaged Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, her performance of this perpetual audience favorite concluded the IVCI's concerto finals phase. Less than an hour later, jury president Jaime Laredo announced how each of the finalists placed, from sixth to first.

To start with, they are Lina Nakano of Japan, sixth; Yesong Sophie Lee of the United States, fifth; Xunye Zhang of China, fourth, each of whom carries the designation of "laureate." Besides Chiu, the 2026 medalists are Elli Choi of the United States, silver; and Aozhe Zhang of China, bronze.

Details of the worth of each prize are available on the competition's web site, violin.org. This afternoon at Scottish Rite Cathedral, closing ceremonies will honor the recipients, including those receiving special prizes, such as the best performance of the commissioned work, Jessie Montgomery's Rhapsody No. 3.

In the semi-finals, Chiu presented an insightful interpretation of the  Montgomery work.  It had as much as any I heard of understanding that its contrasts of intensity and lyricism didn't have the effect of just checking all the right boxes that the composer may have suggested. There was a sense of getting the meaning along the way and understanding the connection among its component parts. 

As for the Tchaikovsky, the public's verdict has long set aside the notorious dismissal of Concerto in D minor, op. 35, by the eminent Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick, who inveighed against the finale in particular, saying "we see a host of gross and savage faces, hear crude curses and smell the booze." He concluded that Tchaikovsky's music "stinks in the ear."

The sophistication of this piece has been hard for posterity to deny, and indeed it has grasped the concerto to its bosom. Chiu played it with evident love and insight, making the most of the designation for that third movement, "Allegro vivacissimo." That welcomes a headlong pace, performed "as lively as possible." The gold medalist's performance fulfilled that demand, with the ISO scampering alongside under the veteran conductor's guidance.

Elli Choi at this year's IVCI

In retrospect, there were signs I would have renewed appreciation for the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor in silver medalist Elli Choi's  performance. It was placed conspicuously between two much different interpretations of Bela Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 2, an avatar of modernism through a Hungarian lens. (Of the two, Lina Nakano's was the clear winner, thanks to a large extent to the ISO's greater comfort level in negotiating the tricky accompaniment, the second time through. Yesong Sophie Lee's account was creditable but had the effect of sounding like a good dress rehearsal.)

Choi had shown on Day 1 (in the preliminary round) that she would not skate over something already well known and guaranteed to go over well. Though H.W. Ernst's Variations on "The Last Rose of Summer" doesn't get as much exposure in public concerts, the sentimental song is familiar to many and catchy to everyone. Choi's performance of the Ernst etude on September 20 placed loads of trust not just in how the melody communicates, but also how its essential character is shaped by all the fancy stuff.

Similarly, her choice of an encore piece, Fritz Kreisler's arrangement of Cecile Chaminade's "Serenade Espagnole," settled into the abiding warmth of Kreisler's dashing, sentimental treatment. She ended with some of the purest imaginable passages in harmonics.

Turning to the final round: One might easily say that the Mendelssohn  is the closest thing to a violin concerto in its purest Platonic form. The solo part stands out without preening. That's how Choi played it, with a gift for asserting herself consistently in the context of the accompaniment.  

There is a surprising range of colors in the orchestra accompaniment, little touches that were particularly emphasized in what Slatkin elicited from the orchestra. I was charmed by Choi's consistency with respect to the graceful yet searching charm of the solo part, 

She made sure that this concerto, often the first major work talented young violinists attempt, by no means sounded like something that "plays itself" and requires no depth of engagement. It is great music, and it is a credit to a violinist presenting it in competition that Choi wasn't shy about making it her own.

[Performance photo by Denis Ryan Kelly Jr.]