Introduction

Joshua Weilerstein is the Artistic Director of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland. He will take you through Tchaikovsky's violin concerto, one he knows extremely well after working on it for three years during his college years. The piece was premiered by Hans Richter and Adolf Brodsky with a bad review from Edward Hanzlic who savaged both composers like Bruckner. And we'll talk about the soaring lyricism of the piece, its difficulties for the violinist, and why perhaps it got the reaction it did when first premiered.