Hilary Hahn's new recording pays homage to the rich cultural heritage of a city that has been close to her heart throughout her career. Set for international release by Deutsche Grammophon on 5 March 2021, Paris sees the American violinist resume her productive partnership with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and its Music Director, Mikko Franck. The three-time Grammy Award-winner's album presents the world premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara's Deux Sérénades, commissioned by Mikko Franck. It also includes Ernest Chausson's Poème and Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.1, which received its first performance in the French capital in 1923. HH made some time available TODAY!! to speak with radio stations about the new release. The list includes   KDFC: San Francisco    CRB: Boston     WMBR: Boston WRCJ: Detroit   Spokane Public Radio: WA        WGTE: Toledo OH WCMU: Mount Pleasant MI WCPE: Wake Forest NC WMHT: Schenectady NY WQLN: Erie PA WOMR Provincetown MA Winnipeg's CLASSIC107: Canada Taintradio: Online

Harmonious World Podcast: UK

udiscovermusic. - Sharon Kelley writes....Violinist Hilary Hahn will release her new album ‘Paris', featuring the world premiere recording of Rautavaara's final score, in March 2021. The three-time Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn pays homage to the rich cultural heritage of a city that has been close to her heart throughout her career on her new recording which features her renewed partnership with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and its Music Director, Mikko Franck. Paris includes the world premiere recording of Rautavaara's final score, Deux Sérénades, Poème by Parisian-born composer Chausson, and Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.1, first performed in the French capital in 1923. Photo: OJ Slaughter - DG READ THE FULL udiscovermusic. ARTICLE

Throughout her career, Hilary Hahn has been an advocate for new music - most notably commissioning a concerto by Edgar Meyer and a Pulitzer Prize-winning concerto by Jennifer Higdon. Her album, Silfra, was a genre-bending experiment with prepared-pianist Hauschka. Prior to that, she released an album of sonatas by Charles Ives. More than ten years ago, Hahn began her most ambitious project, "In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores," to expand and enrich the violin repertoire. She commissioned more than two dozen composers to write short-form pieces for acoustic violin and piano and toured these new works internationally over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons in countries such as Turkey, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Austria and Spain.   To help celebrate this months' international release of the In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores sheet music, The Violin Channel in conjunction with Boosey & Hawkes and Deutsche Grammophon is giving away 3 fresh-off-the-press sheet music and CD packs. CLICK HERE TO Enter now to win 1 of 3 'In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores' sheet music and CD packs.               Each pack contains the newly-released violin and piano scores for the innovative 2013 commissioning and recording project – plus Hilary Hahn and pianist Cory Smythe‘s original GRAMMY-Award winning CD recording.   Includes 27 short violin and piano encore works by leading international contemporary composers – including: Avner Dorman, Mason Bates, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Jennifer Higdon, Mark-Anthony Turnage, James Newton Howard and Max Richter.   Entries Close: Friday 26th April , 2019. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

Early in her career, violinist Hilary Hahn took on music that many before her wouldn't approach until they were a little older.  She chose three of the six unaccompanied violin works of J.S. Bach, a set regarded as the pinnacle of solo violin repertoire.  Now, 21 years later, Hahn returns to complete the set.  Naturally, her interpretation may sound different, but one constant remains:  Hilary Hahn is very much at home with these 6 pieces.  She shares more about it with All Classical Portland's program director John Pitman. LISTEN   p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

In 2013, violinist Hilary Hahn brought to life 27 new encores for violin, each by a different living composer. Today she releases the sheet music for all of them -- In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores: Violin and Piano, a collection published by Boosey & Hawkes that includes Hahn's own markings as well as style and performance notes. "My goal was to make it as easy to begin as possible, and also as easy to get answers as possible," said Hahn, speaking about the years-long project of getting the encores into print. "I hope that violinists enjoy playing these pieces." p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Violinist.com ARTICLE

This issue completes Hilary Hahn's first recording of Bach's solo violin works. The initial volume, her debut recording (1997), had a mixed reception, but these readings, superbly captured, demonstrate greater maturity, a wider range of nuance and a more convincing appreciation of the ‘grand design'. Showing little empathy for ‘period' style, Hahn is largely faithful to Bach's text, but takes occasional liberties with his articulations; her improved structural vision is most evident in the Sonatas' fugues, which are characterised by controlled, euphonious execution of the most densely polyphonic passages, flawless intonation, extravagant arpeggiando treatment and clear realisation of the complex contrapuntal interplay. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Strad ARTICLE

Throughout her career, Hilary Hahn has been an advocate for new music - In 27 Pieces: HH commissioned more than two dozen composers to write short-form pieces for acoustic violin and piano and toured these new works internationally over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons in countries such as Turkey, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Austria and Spain. The idea began to take shape when Hahn noticed that new encore pieces were not being showcased as much as other types of contemporary works. Shorter pieces remain a crucial part of every violinist's education and repertoire, and Hahn believed that potential new favorites should be encouraged and performed as well.  Watch this clip courtesy of theStrad,  from American public radio programme A Prairie Home Companion, Hilary Hahn plays Mercy by Max Richter, written for 'In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores.'  

The last time we featured a recording by Hilary Hahn as our WCRB CD of the week, it was a personally-curated collection of favorite recordings from her brilliant career – but now, she's made an album of Bach, and it may be her most personal album yet. The genius and humanity of Bach's music has brought solace to people around the world for hundreds of years. His is the source from which all other music seems to flow. He is elemental for virtually every musician. For cellists, the solo suites are everything – and for violinists, the solo sonatas and partitas are six companions that stay with a player for life.  Read her liner notes to see how she found her way to finally making this disc. You need only hear the way she arrives at the top of the very first chord on this recording (the 1st Sonata) to know that there is a deep adventure ahead. The fugue from that Sonata (track 2) dances with sheer clarity and confidence, with a wisdom about it that can only come from years and years of co-habitation. The Allemande (Double) from the 1st Partita (track 6) seems to arrive from the clear blue – as if it were a memory. Hahn leans in to dissonances in a way that makes them glow, without interrupting the inevitable pulse of these pieces. It's no wonder that she's happy with the result. It's beautifully recorded with intimate sound and a beautiful sense of warm space. Hilary Hahn - Plays Bach is the WCRB: CD of the Week. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Hilary Hahn has played Bach every day since she took up the violin at the age of seven, and first recorded Bach's solo violin works as a 17-year-old prodigy. On this album, coming 21 years later, she records other Bach solo violin works that weren't on the debut album. Hahn says in the liner notes that "from the first day I learned the first notes of the Siciliana from Sonata No. 1 for my first full recital almost thirty years ago, this set of works has been a touchstone of my musical life." She loves, lives, and breathes Bach. It shows. She plays with such authority, passion, and sense of wonder. It's the notes, what's between the notes, and the overall the beauty of her sound that captivate me. I have listened again and again to this new album to absorb all of its beauties. READ THE FULL KCRW: Los Angeles REVIEW p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}

The fiendishly difficult Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Johann Sebastian Bach have always been a part of Hilary Hahn's musical life. Ms. Hahn began her musical studies with her first teacher, Klara Berkovich, and at age 10 was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia to study with Jascha Brodsky, who devoted a part of each lesson to solo Bach. At age 17, Hilary Hahn recorded her first CD, entitled Hilary Hahn Plays Bach, which featured her performances of Bach's Sonata No. 1 in G minor, Partita No. 1 in B minor, and Partita No. 2 in D minor. Now, at age 38, Hilary Hahn revisited exactly these same works in a recital at Davies Hall, Sunday, November 4, under the aegis of San Francisco Symphony's Great Performer Series. Hilary Hahn performs on an 1864 copy by Vuillaume of the Guarneri "Il Cannone" played by Paganini.  After intermission, Hilary Hahn returned to the stage to play Bach's Partita No. 2 in D minor. This work opens with an elegant Allemande (unusually free of double stopping), then moves on to a Courante of rare dramatic intensity, to a plaintively yearning Sarabande, followed by a bouncy, jaunty Gigue. Then comes the incomparable Chaconne, a movement almost as long as the first four movements combined. This Chaconne is a veritable summation of the solo violin's expressive capabilities. Here Hilary Hahn rose to the challenge, employing her robust tone and superlative technique to navigate all the intricacies of this highly expressive work. Ms. Hahn varied her dynamics throughout this Chaconne, offering here a light touch, there a strong, insistent attack (as in the oft-repeated three-note figure). When this magnificent Chaconne came to a close, the audience instantly arose to give Hilary Hahn a tumultuous standing ovation. As an encore, Ms. Hahn played the second movement (a gentle fugue) from Bach's Sonata No. 2 in A minor. READ THE FULL Berkeley Daily Planet REVIEW

Celebrated violinist Hilary Hahn is out with a new album of solo works by J.S. Bach and it's the WRTI: Philadelphia Classical Album of the Week. This new Bach recording completes a cycle she started at age 17, when she chose for her debut album two of Bach's three partitias and one of his three sonatas. Now, in Hilary Hahn Plays Bach, she's recorded the remaining one partita and two sonatas.   When Hilary recorded the first three works back in 1997 at age 17, she wasn't intending to record the complete set. "Three of the pieces fit very well into a CD and I just picked the three that I was most familiar with, the three I played the most."  But as the years went by, fans and colleagues alike kept asking for the others. "So eventually I thought, enough time has passed. I should do that. But I liked having it as something to look foreward to. It's a funny feeling when its actually done, and the whole set is recorded, over 20 years, granted. But it is complete now."  These solo pieces by Bach, she says, have obtained "cult status" among violinists and music students. "It's notoriously difficult to play these works technically, but also musically,there are so many directions you can go in with these pieces that you can play them in all these different styles."  READ THE Q&A

For violinist Hilary Hahn, Friday's concert at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater was a homecoming, in more ways than one. It marked the lone stop in the region on the Baltimore native's ongoing international tour. And for this inquisitive and searching musician, it also was a return to the foundation and summit of the violin repertory, the solo works of Bach - music she recorded for her teenage debut album from 1997 and which she now revisits as a fully fledged artist. Hahn's recital, featuring Bach's first sonata and the first and second partitas, was an exhibition of state-of-the-art violin performance. She combined the best of old-school qualities - seamless legato phrasing, a muscular tone and a majestic sense of line - with more modern ideas about voicing, but without the breathy mannerisms that can afflict period performance. With her command of large-scale architecture and her subtle shadings, Hahn conjured into being a cathedral of sound: spacious and full of dazzling beauty. READ THE FULL Washington Post REVIEW p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Encores have never been an afterthought for Hilary Hahn. In recent years, this brilliant violinist has commissioned 27 short solo pieces from as many composers to expand her stash of end-of-concert treats. She might have been expected to pick one on Tuesday, when she gave her first-ever violin-alone recital in New York at Alice Tully Hall as part of Lincoln Center's White Light Festival. But her evening of Bach culminated in the sprawling, majestic Chaconne from the Partita No. 2 - the Everest of the violin repertory. Which one of her commissioned encores would she pick to follow that? It was a gutsy choice. But as I listened to Ms. Hahn, 38, embark once more on that 18-minute workout of runs, arpeggios and triple stops, I felt some of the magic drain out of the evening. That's because this time around, my focus shifted from Bach's genius to Ms. Hahn's skill, and to the audible deliberation that went into every note. Sure, the occasional bass tone rang out even more forcefully on her second go; Ms. Hahn took extra time on one thoughtful pause and allowed herself a tiny slurp on an expressive slide from one note to the next. But her interpretation had clearly been hewed in stone, one meticulous stroke at a time. What most surprised me about Ms. Hahn's take on Bach - she performed the first sonata and the first two partitas - was its throwback glamour. On Tuesday she played on an 1865 Vuillaume (one of two instruments by that maker that she used for her new Bach recording), producing a high-gloss sound of enormous power. There is an uncanny high-definition quality to the consistency of that sound: Across strings, in different registers and bow strokes, it maintains the same brilliance and focus. In meditative movements like the Adagio of the G Minor Sonata, Ms. Hahn takes an unabashedly Romantic approach, with slow tempos that allow her to spin out the melody in shiny ribbons. Her take on that sonata's fugue, too, was designed to maximize sound, with short notes rendered solid - almost broad - and only the difficult triple stops ringing out harshly, like gunshots. Ms. Hahn dispatched fast movements like the Gigue of the D Minor Partita with such fire and panache that the audience erupted in spontaneous (and graciously acknowledged) applause. With sure dramatic instinct she zoomed in on moments of pathos, lingering on a sighing motif, or building up crescendos with muscular impatience. Her playing evoked the Bach of past generations, like Itzhak Perlman's recording from 1988. Her contemporaries often now play this repertory with feathered bow strokes, gestural phrasing and swift tempos inspired by the historically-informed-performance movement. Ms. Hahn plays as if that shift never occurred.

When Hilary Hahn Plays Bach came out in 1997, critics were astounded that a performer would choose solo Bach for her debut album. They were further confounded by Hahn's elegant approach to this music's technical and interpretive challenges at the age of 17. Now 38, she completes her recording of the Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin with her Decca label debut, featuring the first partita and first and second sonatas. For October 20, 2018, Hilary Hahn Plays Bach is WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release' p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Hilary Hahn‘s first studio release was in 1997, with a disc of two of Bach's Partitas and a Sonata for solo violin. More than 20 years later, she's just released the followup on Decca, called Hilary Hahn Plays Bach, with the remaining Partita, and two Sonatas. She'll be coming to San Francisco toward the beginning of November to play some of the repertoire that she's been ‘collaborating with' since she was a teenager. LISTEN & READ THE KDFC: San Francisco - State Of the Arts SEGMENT

Violinist Hilary Hahn made a big splash with her first recording at age 17: an album of the first three sonatas and partitas by J.S. Bach – some of the most difficult solo works for the instrument. At that time, Stereo Review wrote, "I would go so far as to say that I've never heard this legendary, impossible piece of music played on a higher level, technically and musically, than it is on Hahn's debut CD. This is simply a magnificent performance, completely true in all its parts and possessed of a depth and wisdom that belie the performer's age. Unlike most of the violinists who play this music, she is truly its master, and that frees her to play it with soul." Now some twenty years later at age 38, she completes her recording of the Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin in an album on Decca Classics that includes the first partita and first and second sonatas. HH joins WGTE - Toledo OH - Brad Cresswell for a preview and discussion of her work. LISTEN   link: http://bit.ly/2OnflwK   <iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/513463743%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-Se5gP&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe> p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

On The Bach Hour, one of today's finest violinists joins WCRB: Boston - Brian McCreath to talk about - and perform - Bach's music for solo violin. On the program, you will hear Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D, BWV 1068: I. Overture (arr. Crespo) - German Brass Cantata BWV 98 Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan (translation) - Sophie Karthauser, soprano; Petra Noskaiova, alto; Christoph Genz, tenor; Dominik Woerner, bass-baritone; La Petite Bande, Sigiswald Kuijken, director Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV 1116 - Gerhard Weinberger, organ (Heinrich Gottfried Trost organ, St. Walpurgis, Grossengottern, Germany) Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003 - Hilary Hahn, violin WCRB's Brian McCreath talks with Hilary Hahn about performing and recording Bach's solo violin music. Listen p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Many musicians and music-lovers thrive on their "daily dose of Bach." Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn does too: Bach has been a part of her life, both in practice and performance, nearly every day since she was nine years old. Her most recent album on Decca, Hilary Hahn Plays Bach: Sonatas 1 & 2, Partita 1, explores her ongoing fascination with the composer. Hahn spoke with WFMT: Chicago about the start of her musical journey with Bach, the challenges and rewards of playing his music, and how musical discoveries-even in live performance-keep Baroque music fresh for 21st century listeners.  READ THE Q&A p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Over two decades ago in 1997, when violinist Hilary Hahn was 17, she made a celebrated recording debut, Hilary Hahn Plays Bach. That year, Hahn told NPR about her enthusiasm for Bach's music. "There's nothing I really wanted to record more than Bach," Hahn said. "I can work on it for a long time and keep discovering more things that surprise me every time." That album, of two partitas and one sonata by Bach for solo violin, effectively launched Hahn's career. She's since won three Grammys, routinely performs with the world's finest orchestras, plays with pop and electronic musicians and has appeared on TV. But there has been some unfinished business. Hahn says audiences have been hounding her to record the rest of the set of Bach's sonatas and partitas. Now, she's done just that on her latest release, Hilary Hahn plays Bach: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2; Partita No. 1. Hahn returned to Weekend Edition to speak with NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro about her new album, returning to her first musical love and learning to appreciate the tough days. Listen to the conversation at the audio link and read interview highlights below. LISTEN

Violinist Hilary Hahn has released a new album featuring Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita No. 1 and Sonatas 1 and 2. This completes the set of solo Bach music that she started with her debut recording back in 1997. Her affection for his music is clear and she says "not a week has passed since then without an audience member asking me when I'll record the rest of the set." Hahn's relationship with Bach goes back to her earliest studies, which included practicing or performing one movement of the sonatas or partitas every day. Talking about this new release, Hahn says, "I love these pieces. Indulging in the freedom of the moment is the only way to attain an honest performance, and the moments and grand gestures that Bach gifted violinists through these works are magically infinite." 88.9WCVE: Richmond VA - Classical Music Host, Mike Goldberg spoke with HH about the new recording. Listen HERE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

When Hilary Hahn plays Bach came out on Sony in 1997, critics were astounded that a performer would choose solo Bach for her debut album; they were further confounded by her elegant approach to this music's technical and interpretive challenges at such a young age. Bach expert Nicholas Anderson wrote in BBC Music Magazine at the time, "Bach's six unaccompanied solos - three each of partitas and sonatas - have long been regarded as the pinnacle of violin writing and the most elusive of goals for the aspiring performer... Hahn's affection for Bach's music becomes apparent at almost every turn; and the concluding movement of the C major Sonata is a tour de force. I long to hear more." Stereo Review wrote, "I would go so far as to say that I've never heard this legendary, impossible piece of music played on a higher level, technically and musically, than it is on Hahn's debut CD. This is simply a magnificent performance, completely true in all its parts and possessed of a depth and wisdom that belie the performer's age. Unlike most of the violinists who play this music, she is truly its master, and that frees her to play it with soul." Now 38, she completes her recording of the Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin in a Decca Classics album that releases today, October 5, 2018. The new album includes the first partita and first and second sonatas and HH has now recorded the complete works for solo violin of J.S. Bach. WQXR's Jeff Spurgeon spoke with the violinist about Bach, practice habits and more. READ THE WQXR: New York Q&A

A lot changes in two decades. A lot also stays the same. Take "Hilary Hahn Plays Bach," the violinist's audacious 1997 debut recording, released when she was just 17. The photo on the cover shows her with soft, youthful features but the solemn stare of a serious artist. No mere prodigy, she was declaring that she was ready to leave her mark on some of the most challenging and profound music in her instrument's repertory. Fast-forward to the present, and the release of her long-awaited follow-up, "Hilary Hahn Plays Bach: Sonatas 1 & 2, Partita 1," which closes the circle on Bach's solo works and will be accompanied by a virtually sold-out tour that includes a stop at Lincoln Center on Oct. 23. Ms. Hahn's Bach is as earnest as ever, yet naturally wiser. Between the recordings, she has become one of the essential violinists of our time, a restlessly curious artist eager to commission contemporary composers and push the boundaries of performance. And on the cover of the new album, in contrast to the last, she's smiling. That may well be the more accurate portrayal, based on a visit to her Cambridge home, where she has lived for the past two years with her husband and two daughters. Here she practices, unglamorously, in a corner of the basement that also houses her Grammys, still not unpacked. On a recent morning, Ms. Hahn graciously played host while discussing her life and approach to performance, nursing the infant Nadia and indulging the imaginary tasting menu prepared by three-year-old Zelda, a precocious child with a multilingual library, perfect pitch and the youthful confidence to serve, with a straight face, a dish she called "cookie water." For someone who made her professional debut as a child and has been touring and recording ever since, Ms. Hahn seemed surprisingly well adjusted, with a conventional home life that didn't fit the profile of a superstar virtuoso with a massive, dedicated fan base. The reason, she said, could be that she has long aimed to prioritize her individuality over the grueling demands of concertizing. As a student at the Curtis Institute of Music - where her teachers included the great Jascha Brodsky, who died in 1997 - she was focused and skilled. But when her career blossomed, she resisted any persona prescribed to her. "When I was starting out with record companies, there was a tendency to simplify the image as a prodigy," she said. "I have more than one adjective, and I've always tried to be myself and listen to my instincts." So Ms. Hahn became a self-guided globe-trotter, traveling for a time with a pet mouse she carried in the pocket of her cargo pants. She recorded the standard repertory - Sibelius and Tchaikovsky - as well as more out-of-the-way 20th-century works by Barber, Schoenberg and Bernstein, all with musicality beyond her years. Composers wrote specifically for her, including Jennifer Higdon, whose Violin Concerto, made for Ms. Hahn, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010. And she reached beyond the classical world for collaborators including the mandolin player Chris Thile, the folk singer Josh Ritter and Valgeir Sigurdsson, who produced an adventurous album of her in improvised music, "Silfra." Not one to preen, Ms. Hahn didn't record an early album of encores, as many young musicians do. When she did turn to encores, in 2013, it was a collection of 27 new pieces written by some of the leading composers of the day. One of them, Du Yun, remarked that this record was the hallmark of a truly mature artist. "It's easy to be a prodigy," she said. "It's really hard to keep pushing in new directions." Ms. Hahn commissioned 26 of the encores, and held a contest to select the 27th. The album release, a building-scale performance installation, was more akin to "Sleep No More" than an average recital. Early next year, Boosey & Hawkes will release a two-volume edition of the pieces, with Ms. Hahn's bowings, markings and in-depth notes about her experiences working with each composer. "She's not just a world-class violinist," Ms. Du said. "She has this idea and sees it through and fund-raises and talks to a record label and publisher. And then she thinks about how to talk about those pieces in different concert settings and online. That's a whole package of what an artist in today's time should be." Ms. Hahn has also known when to take a break; she decided long ago that every 10 years she would go on sabbatical. During these periods off, she has taken language immersion courses and studied ceramics and welding. When she was 30, she briefly stopped playing and listening to the radio. (It was during this time that she met her husband.) She has played from Bach's six sonatas and partitas more or less every day since she was 9; movements from these works make for crowd-pleasing encores and warm-ups in practice. Her Bach has preternatural clarity: Four-note chords and fugues sound as though they were played by a small ensemble, not by a single instrument articulating discrete voices. "When you hear her play," said Mr. Thile, who once tried emulating her hands, "you're hearing the music as clearly as you will ever hear it." The differences between her Bach albums are subtle. The technique is superb in both, but the 1997 recording is slightly more exuberant, while the new one is capacious in its phrasing. "This is a portrait of how I play Bach in my 30s," Ms. Hahn said of her new album. "When I play those earlier pieces now, the tempi are faster, but the structure within the phrase is more stretched. It's a little bit more of a push and pull." Her work has of late had to be incorporated ever more into the rhythms of everyday life. "I was trying to not practice when Zelda napped, trying to compartmentalize, but I wound up just not getting done what I needed to," Ms. Hahn said. "So I threw caution to the wind. If I have five minutes, let's practice. If it becomes half an hour, great." On a white-water rafting trip, she gave an impromptu Bach performance to a father and son, who listened through headphones while she played an electric violin. She has organized B.Y.O.B. - bring your own baby, that is - concerts for parents who otherwise might not be able to take their children to hear music in traditional settings. "I find that Bach is appealing to a lot of different audiences," she said. "It really hits people at their core in different ways, but it also creates a meditative space. I just feel like I can play it, and it reaches people." Next year, Ms. Hahn will turn 40 - which means that after this season, it will be time for another sabbatical. She doesn't have any plans yet, and doesn't want to make any. "Maybe I'll go on safari for a month," she said, "or go to an artist residency to write for a couple of weeks, or go to Walden Pond every day." Or, gesturing to Nadia, playing on the floor, she said, "I could just do the mom thing."

When Hilary Hahn plays Bach came out on Sony in 1997, critics were astounded that a performer would choose solo Bach for her debut album; they were further confounded by her elegant approach to this music's technical and interpretive challenges at such a young age. Now 38, she completes her recording of the Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin in a Decca Classics album that releases today, October 5, 2018. The new album includes the first partita and first and second sonatas and HH has now recorded the complete works for solo violin of J.S. Bach.  95.5KHFM: Albuquerque NM Classical Host - Brent Stevens spoke with HH about the new recording. Listen to the attached interview p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Twenty one years ago, violinist Hilary Hahn hit the classical scene with Plays Bach on Sony Classical. Now a superstar performer, Hahn returns on Decca Classics to finish the cycle of solo violin works by Johann Sebastian Bach: Solo Sonatas 1 and 2, plus the Partita No. 1. Hahn says "Not a week has passed since then without an audience member asking me when I'll record the rest of the set." We're so tickled she finally has "completed" the set. There is something perfect about her approach, sound, and interpretation. It's a must own for any music lover, especially violinists and those who love Bach's music. Radio Purdue - WBAA: W. Lafayette IN Music Director John Clare spoke with Hilary about the new release, and why it's the right time to release Hilary Hahn Plays Bach. LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

The big black letters on the marquis of the Alex Theatre - an art deco landmark on Glendale's Brand Ave. - read "Hilary Hahn Plays Bach." It also could have mentioned that the evening was the opening concert of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's 51st season. Hilary Hahn was 23 when she first performed with the musicians of LACO, an association that has continued for 15 years. But as LACO concertmaster Margaret Batjer recalled during the pre-concert talk Saturday, she first heard Hahn perform the Beethoven Violin Concerto when Hahn was a student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. The performance of the Bach double concerto that followed combined the elements of a joyful reunion with an emotionally expressive, high-flying performance during which it became abundantly clear the two musicians were having a lot of fun exchanging riffs, adding flourishes, and playing harmoniously in unison. PHOTO: Michael Patrick O'Leary, Michael Burke READ THE FULL San Francisco Classical Voice ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060}

When Hilary Hahn plays Bach came out on Sony in 1997, critics were astounded that a performer would choose solo Bach for her debut album; they were further confounded by her elegant approach to this music's technical and interpretive challenges at such a young age. "Not a week has passed since then without an audience member asking me when I'll record the rest of the set," Hahn says, having released her first album, Hilary Hahn plays Bach, when she was 17 to great critical and popular success. Now 38, she completes her recording of the Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin in an album that will be released on Decca Classics on October 5, 2018. The new album includes the first partita and first and second sonatas. HH recently sat down with Spokane Public Radio Classical Host - James Tevenan to discuss the new recording. Listen to the attached clip.

It's now practically lore that violinist Hilary Hahn decided that her debut album would not only be solos, but partitas and a sonata by Bach, works that have been held as the zenith of violin composition and the most intangible of objectives for a newcomer recitalist. It was a move that raised a few eyebrows, since some musicians (cellist Mstislav Rostropovich being a famous example) wait until midlife or even later before taking Bach's solo works into the studio. The CD, which will be released on October 5 - her first time with Decca - is not for background music. This is an experience to be savored. Scaling the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, composed in 1720, requires not only a firm grasp of violin technique and a propensity for soul-searching. READ THE FULL STAGEANDCINEMA REVIEW p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Hilary Hahn was just 11 years old when she had her orchestral debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She recorded her first album just six years later to great critical acclaim - even earning her praise from PBS icon, Fred Rogers. Now, at 38, Hahn has earned three Grammy awards and is one of the most widely respected performers and interpreters of classical violin repertoire. She will be in Los Angeles September 29th and 30th to perform Bach with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She also has an upcoming album of Bach for solo violin, out October 5th. LISTEN TO THE KPCC: Pasadena SEGMENT   soundcloud embed: p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

The Strad October 2018 issue is out now in which Hilary Hahn, the quirky, effervescent US violinist, gives us an insight into the creative process as she returns to the Bach recording project she began 20 years ago. When Hilary Hahn plays Bach came out on Sony in 1997, critics were astounded that a performer would choose solo Bach for her debut album; they were further confounded by her elegant approach to this music's technical and interpretive challenges at such a young age. Hahn's relationship with Bach goes back to her earliest studies of the violin, which included practicing or performing one movement of the sonatas or partitas every day. She continues to work on solo Bach nearly every day, also programming a sonata or partita in many recitals, offering movements as encores after concertos, and presenting Bach in her spontaneous "mini concerts" for babies and their parents, knitting circles, and yoga studios. Most of all, she continues to love the music and to turn to it as a source of both reflection and challenge. SEE theStrad PAGE

When Hilary Hahn plays Bach came out on Sony in 1997, critics were astounded that a performer would choose solo Bach for her debut album; they were further confounded by her elegant approach to this music's technical and interpretive challenges at such a young age. "Not a week has passed since then without an audience member asking me when I'll record the rest of the set," Hahn says, having released her first album, Hilary Hahn plays Bach, when she was 17 to great critical and popular success. Now 38, she completes her recording of the Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin in an album that will be released on Decca Classics on October 5, 2018. The new album includes the first partita and first and second sonatas. HH recently sat down with 90.9WRCJ-Detroit, Classical Host: Chris Felcyn to discuss the new recording. Listen to the attached clip

When Hilary Hahn plays Bach came out on Sony in 1997, critics were astounded that a performer would choose solo Bach for her debut album; they were further confounded by her elegant approach to this music's technical and interpretive challenges at such a young age. Bach expert Nicholas Anderson wrote in BBC Music Magazine at the time, "Bach's six unaccompanied solos - three each of partitas and sonatas - have long been regarded as the pinnacle of violin writing and the most elusive of goals for the aspiring performer... Hahn's affection for Bach's music becomes apparent at almost every turn; and the concluding movement of the C major Sonata is a tour de force. I long to hear more." Stereo Review wrote, "I would go so far as to say that I've never heard this legendary, impossible piece of music played on a higher level, technically and musically, than it is on Hahn's debut CD. This is simply a magnificent performance, completely true in all its parts and possessed of a depth and wisdom that belie the performer's age. Unlike most of the violinists who play this music, she is truly its master, and that frees her to play it with soul." HH sat down with Kansas Public Radio's Michael Keelan to talk about her approach. Listen to the attached file p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060}

When Hilary Hahn plays Bach came out on Sony in 1997, critics were astounded that a performer would choose solo Bach for her debut album; they were further confounded by her elegant approach to this music's technical and interpretive challenges at such a young age. Bach expert Nicholas Anderson wrote in BBC Music Magazine at the time, "Bach's six unaccompanied solos - three each of partitas and sonatas - have long been regarded as the pinnacle of violin writing and the most elusive of goals for the aspiring performer... Hahn's affection for Bach's music becomes apparent at almost every turn; and the concluding movement of the C major Sonata is a tour de force. I long to hear more." Now 38, Hahn completes her recording of the Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin in an album that will be released on Decca Classics on October 5, 2018. The new album includes the first partita and first and second sonatas. In conjunction with this release, HH has made time today - Sep 13, 2018 to speak with classical radio stations and networks around the US. Participating cities include, New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Austin, and many more. Watch throughout the day for our tweets.

Each week, we dig through new releases to handpick the KUSC: Los Angeles - Album of the Week. With so many great recordings in 2018 already, our DJ's picked our favorite albums so far. Tune in all week as we play pieces from our favorites and look below to read more about why we picked each selection. Alan Chapman's favorite picks include; Hilary Hahn - Retrospective. Alan commented "I'm a big, big fan and I'm delighted to hear her play such a wide range of material." He also liked; Sheku Kanneh-Mason - Inspiration and wrote; "Young, talented, and had to cancel on the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra to play at the royal wedding."

For this week's Sound Advice, CapRadio's Morning Classical Host Kevin Doherty selects four new releases to keep an ear out for, including works by John Adams recorded by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, a Bach concerto recorded by pianist Simone Dinnerstein, a Mozart sonata recorded by violinist Hilary Hahn and pianist Cory Smythe and an original by guitarist Frederic Hand. Retrospective is a compendium of some of Hilary Hahn's highlight recordings. Her programming is as musical and creative as her violin playing. While most of this album is from older recordings there are a couple of new tracks including Mozart's Violin Sonata No. 27. Her playing on this track is lyrical and fluid. A side note: It's said that Mozart composed this sonata in a day. LISTEN TO CapRadio's Sound Advice: New Classical Releases SEGMENT

On WCRB's CD of the Week, celebrated American violinist Hilary Hahn reflects on her career so far by sharing some of her favorite pieces, alongside artwork from fans. In the summer of 2016, superstar violinist Hilary Hahn finished a project with results that surprised her. She joined a global Instragram initiative with the hashtag #100days. The concept: reveal your artistic process by doing the same thing every day for 100 consecutive days. She decided that she'd set up her smart phone, record herself practicing, and post one minute's worth of creative work every single day. The surprise came when she realized that it was not only helpful for her, but for lots of other people who felt empowered about their own practicing when they watched it. That's the kind of reaching out that's been a hallmark of Hilary Hahn's life in music. READ THE FULL WCRB: Boston ARTICLE

American violinist Hilary Hahn has reached that point in her career where a retrospective is in order. She has also reached the point in her personal life where's she's taking a break from performing live to have a second baby! So what we have here is a collection of excerpts from her many recordings so far; at least one track from each of the 12 albums she's recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Retrospective reveals the many sides of an exceptional artist. For the week of February 25th, the KDFC: San Francisco 'Album of the Week' is  Hilary Hahn - Retrospective

American violinist Hilary Hahn has reached that point in her career where a retrospective is in order. She has also reached the point in her personal life where's she's taking a break from performing live to have a second baby! So what we have here is a collection of excerpts from her many recordings so far; at least one track from each of the 12 albums she's recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Retrospective reveals the many sides of an exceptional artist. For the week of February 25th, the KUSC: Los Angeles 'Album of the Week' is  Hilary Hahn - Retrospective p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

A new two-disc album from the American violinist Hilary Hahn features recordings from every album she has made for Deutsche Grammophon over the last 15 years. This new album, "Retrospectives," also includes previously unreleased live recordings of music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Tina Davidson and Max Richter. For the rest of the album, Hahn chose a variety of music that she has recorded. There are movements of violin concertos by Henri Vieuxtemps, Niccolo Paganini and Jennifer Higdon. Hahn also selected music she has recorded by living composers such as Nico Muhly and Du Yun. Another piece is an improvisation that Hahn composed in collaboration with Hauschka.  read the full Interlochen Public Radio page p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

An artist portrait curated by Hilary Hahn herself, "Retrospective" features recordings from albums she made as a Deutsche Grammophon artist as well as almost 30 minutes of new, unreleased material from a live concert in Berlin – Mozart's Violin Sonata, K. 379, and new recordings of works from her "Encores" album. Commissioned through Hahn's social media platforms, the "Retrospective" artwork and packaging were designed using portraits submitted by her fans. Hilary Hahn - Retrospective IS WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release.'  SEE PAGE

The Houston Symphony and Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada welcome back three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn Feb. 23 and 24 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 25 at 2:30 p.m. at Jones Hall in Hilary Hahn Celebrates Bernstein. This is the orchestra's last subscription concert in Houston before embarking on an eight-city tour through Europe. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} Orozco-Estrada will lead the orchestra in incredible masterworks that will be performed in the tour including Leonard Bernstein's lyrical Serenade for Violin featuring Hahn in celebration of the 100th birthday of this legendary conductor, composer and musical ambassador. Hahn will also join the orchestra's high-profile tour March 9-19 through Europe's most illustrious concert halls and festivals. READ THE FULL BrodwayWorld ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn, who has played a few concerts in her day - somewhere around 1,437 of them - talks about Henri Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto No. 4, which she plays on her latest CD. Is music composed by a violinist for violinists easier or more challenging to play? How was it that Vieuxtemps was more popular than Mozart at one point and now...not so much? And most importantly, Hahn discusses her violin case's Twitter account. Music in this episode, from Hilary Hahn's CD Mozart 5 Vieuxtemps 4 Violin Concertos (Deutsche Grammophon): Henri Vieuxtemps, Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 31. Hilary Hahn, violin. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Conducted by Paavo Järvi. Audio production by Todd "Takei" Hulslander with beaming up by Dacia Clay and editing by Mark DiClaudio. LISTEN TO THE KUHA: Houston - Classical Classroom SEGMENT

"I have fond memories of a visit Hilary Hahn made to the KMFA studios 9 years ago; she guest DJ'd with me for a couple of hours, playing some of her favorite works, and discussing her career and other artistic passions, so it was great to catch up with her."  - Dianne Donovan    The brilliant multi Grammy Award winning violinist Hilary Hahn just released a new CD titled "Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4 - Violin Concertos" on Deutsche Grammophon. She also recently won a Grammy for her recording, "In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores." Dianne Donovan had a chance to catch up with her for a brief interview. They talked about her recent Grammy win and what it was like to work with 27 different composers for one recording, as well as the new Mozart release. Hahn spoke about her process in procuring music, as well as the special connection she has to some of the pieces on these recent recordings. She also shared the kind of things she likes to do when not playing the violin.​   LISTEN TO Dianne Donovan's INTERVIEW

Hilary Hahn's newest album, Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4 - Violin Concertos, is her first recording with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi, after performing and touring with the ensemble and conductor for many years. Released on March 31 2015, the disc is Hahn's first orchestral offering since her 2010 pairing of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and Jennifer Higdon's Pulitzer-prize winning violin concerto, which was written for Hahn. With this new album, she returns to core violin repertoire, hot on the heels of her critically-acclaimed, Grammy-winning album of 27 commissioned short pieces, In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores, and an improvised recording with prepared pianist Hauschka, titled Silfra. WRCJ: Detroit - Well Tempered Wireless host - Chris Felcyn sat down with HH to discuss the new album. Listen to the attached soundclip.

Hilary Hahn's newest album, Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4 - Violin Concertos, is her first recording with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi, after performing and touring with the ensemble and conductor for many years. Released on March 31 2015, the disc is Hahn's first orchestral offering since her 2010 pairing of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and Jennifer Higdon's Pulitzer-prize winning violin concerto, which was written for Hahn. With this new album, she returns to core violin repertoire, hot on the heels of her critically-acclaimed, Grammy-winning album of 27 commissioned short pieces, In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores, and an improvised recording with prepared pianist Hauschka, titled Silfra. K-Mozart: Los Angeles host - Nick Tyler sat down with HH on 'The Arts Report' to discuss the new album. CLICK TO LISTEN

Violinist Hilary Hahn (who's in town this weekend for a sold-out San Francisco Performances recital at the SFJAZZ center) has recently released a CD with an unusual pairing of repertoire: Mozart's fifth concerto, and Henri Vieuxtemps' fourth. The two pieces are linked for Hahn, because she began learning them both at the same time, 25 years ago, when she was 10. The album is a tribute to two of her early teachers: Klara Berkovich, who she studied with from the age of 5 to 10, and Jascha Brodsky, who she studied with at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 10 until he died seven years later. Hahn says Klara Berkovich was (and still is!) a great teacher. "I think she was being modest; she could have taught me everything from there on as well. But I think it takes a very wise teacher to know when a student could use another opinion. And I think it was more a matter of that than that she didn't want to teach me any more, or that she couldn't." And, she says, the transition between teachers was seamless, even though their approaches were different, because they were tailored to Hahn's needs. "When I started with Mr. Brodsky, there wasn't much of a jolt in my training. It wasn't like he had to start all over with me, retrain my technique. It was more that he took what she had taught me, and developed it from there." Henri Vieuxtemps' Fourth Violin Concerto used to be an especially popular piece with Russian soloists, where the composer had great fame. " He was instrumental (no pun intended) in founding the violin school there in St. Petersburg," she says, "which is funny, because he's Franco-Belgian. When you think of the Russian school of violin playing, the counterpart is the Franco-Belgian school, yet they came from the same place." She says of the concerto, "It's this dramatic work, it's very symphonic. Very operatic also. And it plays with the idea of solo versus collaborative. There are a lot of moments where an unusual combination of orchestra instruments will be playing with the soloist. And the solo part has to dovetail into what they're doing, but then suddenly step forward and be soloistic again. It's really like an ensemble play, or an ensemble opera performance." Listen to the attached interview.

From the time she learned them as a 10-year-old prodigy, Hilary Hahn has kept two classic concertos in her mind. Now 35, Hahn has recorded those works – Mozart's "Violin Concerto No. 5" and  Henri Vieuxtemps' "Violin Concerto No. 4" – in a CD released last month. She collaborated with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi, with whom she has toured and performed for several years. "I've kept playing them all this time," Hahn said in an interview with "City Lights" host Lois Reitzes. "They've been with me for quite a while now." Hahn's first recorded orchestral release since 2010, "Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4" is a full tracing of a wide-ranging repertoire that has resulted in two Grammy awards and countless other recognitions. Last weekend, Hahn played J.S. Bach, Schumann, Debussy and John Cage in recital in Chicago. Tonight, her show in St. Paul also features Bach and Schumann, along with Ravel and pieces from her Grammy-winning recording, "In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores." In her latest CD, Hahn rekindles formative pieces. She learned the Vieuxtemps concerto from Klara Berkovich, and the Mozart concerto was mastered under the tutelage of Jascha Brodsky. It was the first piece Hahn learned after she entered the renown Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In her interview with Reitzes, Hahn discusses the pleasures of performing Mozart with a large orchestra and the challenges of presenting the work of Vieuxtemps, well-known in the late 19th century for his violin melodies, to contemporary audiences. LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

Hilary Hahn's newest album, Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4 - Violin Concertos, is her first recording with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi, after performing and touring with the ensemble and conductor for many years. Released on March 31 2015, the disc is Hahn's first orchestral offering since her 2010 pairing of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and Jennifer Higdon's Pulitzer-prize winning violin concerto, which was written for Hahn. With this new album, she returns to core violin repertoire, hot on the heels of her critically-acclaimed, Grammy-winning album of 27 commissioned short pieces, In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores, and an improvised recording with prepared pianist Hauschka, titled Silfra. Indiana Public Radio's Steven Turpin sat down with HH to discuss the new album and her April 14th date at Ball State University. Listen to the attached clip.

On the heels of her Grammy-winning "In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores", the American violinist releases her first orchestral CD in five years with "Mozart 5/Vieuxtemps 4".  Ms. Hahn, who has been dazzling audiences with her artistry since she was a teenager, has been playing these works since she was 10 years old.  The Vieuxtemps was the last piece she studied with her first teacher, Klara Berkovich, while the Mozart was the first she studied with Jascha Brodsky.  These two concertos naturally have strong personal meaning for the violinist, both of them works she's played now for about 25 years. Hahn is well-known for her creative pairings of violin concertos, and says in her conversation with me that this is a very natural thing for her to do.   This latest disc is no exception.  While the contrast isn't as startling as when she paired Brahms with Stravinsky, or Sibelius with Schoenberg, the classicism of Mozart and the Romanticism of Vieuxtemps stand in relief.  However, the wealth of melodies and the assured structure of both works help make both works appealingly compatible.  My audio blog helps to illustrate the differences and similarities of these two composers who were well-acquainted with the violin's possibilities Listen to John Pitman's Interview with Hilary Hahn 

Hilary Hahn's newest album, Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4 - Violin Concertos, is her first recording with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi, after performing and touring with the ensemble and conductor for many years. The disc, released on March 31, is Hahn's first orchestral offering since her 2010 pairing of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and Jennifer Higdon's Pulitzer-prize winning violin concerto, which was written for Hahn. With this new album, she returns to core violin repertoire, hot on the heels of her critically-acclaimed, Grammy-winning album of 27 commissioned short pieces, In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores, and HH has a new improvised recording with prepared pianist Hauschka, titled Silfra. Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4 also brings Hahn full circle, after more than three decades of violin playing, to two concertos that have been part of her repertoire since she was ten years old. Vieuxtemps's Violin Concerto No. 4 was the last large piece she learned with Klara Berkovich, her teacher from ages five to ten. Several months later, Mozart 5 was the first concerto that Jascha Brodsky taught her at the Curtis Institute of Music. Berkovich began her violin studies in Odessa and went on to teach in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) before emigrating to the States. Brodsky was one of the last pupils of the legendary Eugène Ysaÿe, who, coincidentally, was a star student of Vieuxtemps, making Vieuxtemps Hahn's musical great-grandfather in the violinist family tree. The disc has been receiving heavy airplay and attention from Radio, and in conjunction HH sits down today - Tuesday April 7 with programmers is Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Detroit, Seattle and Cincinnati to discuss the new album and music in general. Listen to the attached clip.

The two-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn combines Mozart's beloved Concerto No 5 with its fiery Turkish episode with the rich, virtuosic romanticism of Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto No 4. Hahn first learned both works when she was 10 years old and studied them with her most influential teachers. Recording them for the first time, Hahn is joined by Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. The Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto No 4 in D minor, Op 31 (30:36) from Hilary Hahn's Mozart & Vieuxtemps Concertos Deutsche Grammophon is a WFMT: Chicago - New Release Of the Week

New Classical Tracks is a Syndicated Feature airing Nationally on Classical 24 & Statewide on Minnesota Public Radio. Listen to Julie Amacher's Feature with Hilary Hahn. Here's the transcript....Making a cold call isn't easy. In fact, it can be downright uncomfortable. But that didn't stop violinist Hilary Hahn from making more than two dozen cold calls to solicit original compositions for her recording titled In 27 Pieces, which just earned a 2015 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music or Small Ensemble Performance. This recording is a collection of encores Hilary Hahn commissioned from 27 different composers. "And then after I'd called everyone and knew who was going to participate, one goal that I'd always had was to have an open contest for one of the encores," she says. "And that last one was the 27th one by coincidence. So, I was born on the 27th of November but other than that, there was no personal connection with that number in particular. "And I just got to thinking, where are the new generations of encores? I love the older encores but I wanted to make sure that there would be pieces that, in the future, would also refer back to our era and the ideas that are here now. So I decided to do a project with commissioned encores. The concept seemed really easy. But what I didn't think about is the fact that each piece has its own sound world, and I hadn't worked on music by a lot of these composers before, so I was also getting to know their musical language as I learned the pieces. So instead of a lot of short pieces, actually, it's a lot of musical experiences to live through. It has been a fantastic exploration for me." Each composer was given just two guidelines: compose a piece for acoustic violin and piano that's five minutes in length or less. Hilary also interviewed all the composers to gain a better understanding of their intentions. "Some people said, 'Well, even if it's very difficult to play it that way, it's really necessary that it stay exactly the way I wrote it because it's a crucial aspect of the score at that moment'," Hilary recalls. "Other people said, 'Eh, if the notes don't work for you, just change them and let me know.' "One composer, Anton Garcia Abril wrote out something that makes sense on paper as a rhythmic thing. But then he said, 'I don't know how to write in the freedoms that I want, so here's how I hear these phrases.' Then he'd describe through demonstration how these rhythms are just a guideline. It was so interesting to see someone actually say that as a composer." Nico Muhly had a very intentional musical conversation in mind when he wrote his piece titled Two Voices. "It's a musical dialogue within the violin part," Hilary says. "The piano is a drone. He was explaining to me in the course of one of our YouTube interviews that he's very interested in drones because, it's a repetitive background noise that's always present. You notice it sometimes and you don't notice it at other times, because these things are around us all the time. The refrigerator, the traffic, and those are very active parts of how we hear the world, so he wrote this into his piece." Tina Davidson is another highly regarded American composer who agreed to write an encore for Hilary Hahn. Her piece is titled The Blue Curve of the Earth. "Well, [Tina] was in Wyoming, in an artist residency when she wrote it and the title refers to some photos she saw online from NASA of the Earth's edge," Hilary explains. "I think that's a very lyrical interpretation of this place that we are in the universe. It draws on a lot of different senses as well. I think her music ties into … line. Even though she writes fast-moving notes and different sound effects - it's all about the line and about the interweaving intricacies of how notes can illustrate an idea or an emotion. It's a beautiful piece." As you explore these "27 pieces," you may be struck by the diversity of composers, and the variety of traditions they represent. Hilary Hahn says that was her goal, and figuring out how to piece this musical puzzle together became a creative challenge. "I'm really happy with everyone who wrote pieces for this project," she says. "I've learned so much from all of them. Also, playing their music has pushed me a lot. I had to learn how to play their pieces because most of the composers were new to me, so I didn't have a foundation in how to play their music. So I had to learn a lot about them and their styles before I could even approach their pieces and feel like I had an instinct for how to play them. So all of that has pushed me in different directions that were not always natural but now I'm so glad to be part of." Hilary Hahn, stretching in new directions that have paid off in a number of ways, including a 2015 Grammy award for Best Chamber music or small Ensemble Performance.

Throughout her career, Hilary Hahn has been an advocate for new music - most notably commissioning a concerto by Edgar Meyer and a Pulitzer Prize-winning concerto by Jennifer Higdon. Her recent album, Silfra, was a genre-bending experiment with prepared-pianist Hauschka. Prior to that, she released an album of sonatas by Charles Ives. More than ten years ago, Hahn began her most ambitious project, "In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores," to expand and enrich the violin repertoire. She commissioned more than two dozen composers to write short-form pieces for acoustic violin and piano and toured these new works internationally over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons in countries such as Turkey, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Austria and Spain.  In 27 Pieces - The Hilary Hahn Encores wins 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards for 'Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance'

On Friday the 57th Annual Grammy Awards revealed it's winners. and Crossover Media Artists and Projects received 12, 2015 Nominations: including Hilary Hahn's latest: In 27 Pieces, in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category. Throughout her career, Hilary Hahn has been an advocate for new music - most notably commissioning a concerto by Edgar Meyer and a Pulitzer Prize-winning concerto by Jennifer Higdon. Her recent album, Silfra, was a genre-bending experiment with prepared-pianist Hauschka. Prior to that, she released an album of sonatas by Charles Ives. More than ten years ago, Hahn began her most ambitious project, "In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores," to expand and enrich the violin repertoire. She commissioned more than two dozen composers to write short-form pieces for acoustic violin and piano and toured these new works internationally over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons in countries such as Turkey, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Austria and Spain. 
 

It's always a burning question. When the performer walks back on stage, what encore will she play? Something slow and meditative, like Bach, or maybe flashy Paganini at breakneck speed? Encore pieces are a revered repertory, which according to Hilary Hahn were "shaped by the performers who preceded us". So, this stellar violin virtuoso has asked a different question: what should today's encores sound like? Her answer came in an ambitious project: commissioning 26 composers to write encore pieces, plus holding an open competition to find a 27th. The result is a ripper, two-disc compilation, In 27 Pieces, with one of the most profoundly contrasting arrays of compositional style and language you could imagine. You'll find older, more established writers, like Finnish master Einojuhani Rautavaara, with newer voices thrown into the mix. Each piece explores a different sound world, and posits a unique idea of what an encore should do. Some works are slow, lyrical and open, others fast, dissonant, and impossibly demanding when it comes to technique and flair. Everyone will have a favourite, but Israeli composer Avner Dorman's Memory Games is an outright thrill to listen to. Hahn's performance is stunning in every encore. She is often lauded for her rich tone and flawless technique, and you can expect nothing less in this eclectic fare that will entrance lovers of new music, and entice those with more traditional tastes as well. Her bravura is matched perfectly with Cory Smythe's solid accompaniment, which is frequently just as complicated as the violin. Some of these encores have more 'wow' factor than others, but this begs another question: does an encore need to be showy? There's not a hint of ostentation in Hahn's set of 27, demonstrating that today, ‘virtuosity' means something more than just flashy fireworks.

Hilary Hahn is a very disciplined and thoughtful person. Born in Lexington, Virginia in 1979, she began violin studies at age four at Baltimore's Peabody Institute and was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age ten.  Having completed requirements for her university graduation at 16, she remained there to take elective courses and graduated at 20 with a Bachelor of Music degree. She began recording at 16.  Examining her discography, one finds that she has produced one recording per year quite regularly since then:  she is now 35.  This collection of encores is her latest project and it reflects many years of thought and planning. She has maintained a full touring schedule of both solo and orchestral performances. In both these situations she needs encore pieces, and is constantly on the lookout for new ones. This collection, In 27 Pieces, is the crowning achievement of a multi-year project to commission the best contemporary encores for violin with piano accompaniment. READ THE FULL Audiophile Audition REVIEW.

Seattle audiences normally hear violinist Hilary Hahn in Benaroya Hall, but Tuesday evening, the venue was Meany Theater, less than half the size of Benaroya. It was an "up close and personal" recital in the UW World Series, particularly since Hahn took to the microphone to introduce the pieces to the audience. Regardless of what she plays, Hahn is an utterly convincing interpreter who makes the music sound natural and unforced - even easy, when it's decidedly not easy at all. Her approach, direct and unfussy, is underlain with a phenomenally steady bow arm and fingerwork so accurate that there's almost never a pitch even slightly off the center of the note. READ THE FULL Seattle Times REVIEW.

Internationally renowned violinist Hilary Hahn has performed with many of the most famous orchestras in the world -- creating experiences she will always treasure. Nonetheless, recital performances are especially dear to the 34-year-old's heart. Her latest, with pianist Cory Smythe, is "In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores" the result of a multi-year project in which she commissioned 26 composers around the world to create short works that would be appropriate for concert encores. For the 27th piece, an open contest took place that attracted more than 400 original works. Hahn will perform with Smythe at Fairfield University's Quick Center on Tuesday, April 22 at 8pm. READ THE FULL Connecitcut Post INTERVIEW.

The US violinist Hilary Hahn has been awarded the Dresden Music Festival Prize for 2014. Worth €25,000, the award will be presented at a concert at the Dresden Semperoper on June 4th.

The festival award committee said, "Through her authentic, contemporary musical language, Hilary Hahn reaches beyond the concert hall to young classical music fans." The violinist's innovative use of social media was singled out, as well as her teaching work with string students. READ THE FULL Strad ARTICLE

Each month, WCLV's Program Director Bill O'Connell selects a series of special 'Choice CDs' to be featured on the air throughout the month. For February, Bill has selected: In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores. The idea for In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores began to take shape when Hilary noticed that new encore pieces were not being showcased as much as other types of contemporary works. Shorter pieces remain a crucial part of every violinist's education and repertoire, and Hilary believed that potential new favorites should be encouraged and performed as well. What is unique about the project, though, is the incredible depth that Hilary Hahn has gone to discover new works. She explored the music of all the composers before personally contacting them and ran a blind online contest with open submissions to find the 27th composer.

SiriusXM's Bob Edwards speaks to violinist Hilary Hahn about her new CD, In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores.  Hahn spent more than a decade commissioning new works by contemporary composers to play at the end of her concerts.  Encores, which are the performer's way of rewarding an enthusiastic audience at the end of a concert, are short, intimate pieces between 2 and 5 minutes long.  Hahn wasn't satisfied with the standard encore repertoire, and wondered what contemporary composers would do with the form.   She contacted composers from all over the world.  The result is a dazzling 2-CD collection of brand new encores, which she has been performing at her concerts.

"an unflappably confident advocate. The core of her technique is precision and refinement - elegant sound; frictionless, clean bowing and intonation; polished, rounded-off phrasing." - The Boston Globe   "I know of no violinist today with quite her combination of technical brilliance, interpretive assurance and sheer tonal splendor." -The San Francisco Chronicle Throughout her career, Hilary Hahn has been an advocate for new music - most notably commissioning a concerto by Edgar Meyer and a Pulitzer Prize-winning concerto by Jennifer Higdon. Her recent album, Silfra, was a genre-bending experiment with prepared-pianist Hauschka. Prior to that, she released an album of sonatas by Charles Ives. More than ten years ago, Hahn began her most ambitious project, "In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores," to expand and enrichthe violin repertoire. She commissioned more than two dozen composers to write short-form pieces for acoustic violin and piano and toured these new works internationally over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons in countries such as Turkey, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Austria and Spain. The works Include: Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (1947) - Impulse Somei Satoh (1947) - Bifu Du Yun (1978) - When a Tiger Meets a Rosa Rugosa David Lang (1957) - light moving Bun-Ching Lam (1954) - Solitude d'automne Paul Moravec (1957) - Blue Fiddle Antón García Abril (1933) - Third Sigh Avner Dorman (1975) - Memory Games David Del Tredici (1937) - Farewell Mason Bates (1977) - Ford's Farm Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928) - Whispering Gillian Whitehead (1941) - Törua Richard Barrett (1959) - shade Jennifer Higdon (1962) - Echo Dash Christos Hatzis (1953) - Coming To Jeff Myers (1977) - The Angry Birds of Kauai Mark-Anthony Turnage (1960) - Hilary's Hoedown Valentin Silvestrov (1937) Two Pieces Kala Ramnath (1967) - Aalap and Tarana Lera Auerbach (1973) - Speak, Memory Tina Davidson (1952) - Blue Curve of the Earth Elliott Sharp (1951) - Storm of the Eye Michiru Oshima (1961) - Memories James Newton Howard (1951) - 133... At Least Nico Muhly (1981) - Two Voices Søren Nils Eichberg (1973) - Levitation Max Richter (1966) - Mercy