Concert (on 11 Oct, 2020) reviewed by Roman Kühne, on 13 Oct 2020, page 18, Luzerner Zeitung
For sure, she's the typical prodigy. At only 13 years old, she plays the violin and has the total control of all the technical difficulties. Almost at the same time she started going to school in Newcastle, she also joined the Guildhall School of Music in London. At the age of 7 she began to take masterclasses, then started playing concerts and soon appeared at festivals.
Everyone wanted to see and hear this British girl with Chinese roots. London, the Salzburg Festival, Moscow and the Berliner Philharmonie. In summer 2018, as the youngest in the "child prodigies" series at Lucerne Festival, Leia Zhu performed with the Festival Strings Lucerne.
AT 13, MATURE LIKE A OLD SOUL At the age of 13, mature like a veteran and yet when you look at this young lady on Sunday evening in the Hotel Schweizerhof at second concert of the new Chamber Music series of the «ChamberPlayers» the Festival Strings playing, your eyes could not believe what your ears hear.
Here is the expression 'the child prodigy' seems come from a different world. Leia's presentation and performance are astounding not simply because she is “young”, but because it is convincing
Of course, the choice of programme is clever. Instead of a popular big piece, it includes the Duo for Violin and Cello composed by the Hungarian Zoltán Kodály. Together with Jonas Iten, principal cellist of the Festival Strings, Leia displayed a fiery mix of brilliance and depth in a most evocative way. Between them they performed this gripping music quite theatrically. The first movement passed mysteriously and eerily. Then the performance got denser until the wild steps in this dark mania got broken.
The second movement is gorgeous. The figures move in a nostalgic and fragile mood from the cello to the violin. A lost bit of earth, far away from homeland and security. Leia Zhu and Jonas Iten flow in these waves as if from a single body. Their playing is crystal clear. Sounds are chosen with care and transparency. A rich and inspiring moment.
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