A YOUNG musician hailed as “one of the great violin stars of the future” will rediscover his Island roots when he appears with the Jersey Symphony Orchestra later his month.
Cristian Grajner de Sa, whose paternal grandparents came from Madeira to work at the Grand Hotel, said Jersey “holds a very special place for me and my family” as he prepared to take part in the JSO’s Christmas concert on 17 December.
“It will be my first time visiting the Island, and it’s somewhere that holds special meaning to me and my family as it is the birthplace of my father, who was born in St Helier to Portuguese parents working in the hospitality industry. He went to Madeira soon after but he was particularly moved to return for the very first time only a few years ago.
“I understand that the Portuguese community still has a strong presence in Jersey, so it will be wonderful to discover my roots and the beauty of the Island, and most especially as my reason for visiting is to collaborate with the wonderful JSO and share the beautiful Bruch violin concerto with your audience,” he said.
Winner of the Royal Academy of Music’s Leverhulme scholarship, Mr de Sa studied with French violinist Maurice Hasson and later worked with Tasmin Little and Maxim Vengerov before embarking on a career which has seen him appear in some of Europe’s top venues. They include the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, where he made his debut recital and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s concert hall in Lisbon where he performed with the Gulbenkian Orchestra. He has also performed at the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Atheneum in Bucharest and London’s Wigmore Hall, and has broadcast on BBC television and Radio 3.
In Jersey he will be playing one of the most popular violin concertos from the Romantic period – Max Bruch’s celebrated concerto in G minor – which he described as “one of the most rewarding concertos for performers and listeners”.
“What is particularly great fun about the piece is that I find it comes alive best when the violinist totally abandons themselves to the music, something that is not so easy to do in more delicate concertos like Mendelssohn and Beethoven. Although it is so often played and can sadly be seen as a ‘party-piece’ concerto, many of the greatest violinists consider it among the most serious – and challenging – works of the concerto repertoire, and it is much loved for a very good reason.
“With powerful and romantic melodies in the first movement, intimate and tender moments of the second, and virtuosity and brilliance in the third. It also requires big forces from the orchestra, so I always feel the soloist, orchestra and audience experience the musical journey together. In fact, one of my favourite moments of the work is the orchestral entry before the nostalgic return of the opening melody and I’m not even playing,” he said.
During his visit to Jersey, Mr de Sa will give a violin masterclass to students of grade five standard and above as part of the JSO education initiative this Saturday 16 December at 9.30am at Les Quennevais School.
A brass workshop for young brass students will also be held at the same time for a group who will be playing carols at the Christmas concert the following evening as the audience arrives.
The Christmas concert also includes the Prelude to Hansel und Gretel by Humperdinck, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Dance of the Tumblers from The Snow Maiden, The Holly and the Ivy Suite by Malcolm Arnold, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and music by Bridge and Vaughan Williams.
The JSO, led by Martin Smith, will be under the baton of guest conductor John Gibbons, who studied music at Queens’ College Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, winning numerous awards as conductor, pianist and accompanist. Also a composer and arranger, he works with most of the major British orchestras, including the BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, London Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony and Bournemouth Symphony.
Tickets for the concert, which starts at 8pm on Sunday 17 December at Les Quennevais School hall, are available via the JSO website at jso.org.je, which provides a direct link to TicketSource.
They are priced at £28.00 and £10 for 18s or under, plus the TicketSource booking fee. The ticket price includes a glass of wine or a soft drink in the interval.
