Rave Reviews for Leshnoff’s Violin Concerto No. 2

On Maestro Jaap van Zweden’s final concerts as Music Director, the Dallas Symphony premiered Leshnoff’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with its concertmaster, Alexander Kerr, as soloist. The piece has been hailed as an exciting new addition to the violin repertoire. The work will have its next commissioned performance with the Harrisburg Symphony in May 2019.

Tuneful, toe-tapping, vividly rhythmic, the Leshnoff [Violin Concerto No. 2] is a most appealing work: neoclassical Stravinsky meets Samuel Barber meets minimalism... it was a showpiece for DSO concertmaster Alexander Kerr, who played with the utmost tonal finesse, sweetly singing phrases balancing flawless virtuosity.

—Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News, May 25, 2018

At 20 minutes, Leshnoff’s Violin Concerto No. 2 is a nearly perfect marriage of form and content, with an unfailingly palatable harmonic and melodic language.

—Wayne Lee Gay, Texas Classical Review, May 25, 2018