Nostalgie française – Nostalgia I

After a year-long hiatus, “Menuhin’s Heritage Artist” Bomsori Kim makes her much-anticipated return, enchanting audiences with her refined and graceful artistry in two performances. Joined by the outstanding pianist Kit Armstrong, the South Korean virtuoso takes listeners on a deeply evocative journey – at times nostalgic, occasionally surprising, and not always French in character! For Tchaikovsky, the memories trace back to Madame von Meck’s idyllic estate in Brailiv, Ukraine, a place he musically immortalized in 1878 during his stay in Clarens on Lake Geneva. Szymanowski, composing in the turmoil of World War I, evokes the ghosts of a lost era before shifting to the radiant energy of his Notturno e Tarantella, inspired by a Mediterranean getaway. Debussy, confronting his own mortality, fills his Violin Sonata with a poignant mix of tenderness and restless tension. Closing the programme in dazzling fashion, Wieniawski’s Fantaisie Brillante reimagines the most exquisite themes from Gounod’s Faust, a sparkling tribute to 19th-century virtuosity at its finest!