Performer: Karen Gomyo

Samuel Adams' new violin concerto proves undeniably theatrical in the second week of Elim Chan’s concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Conductor Semyon Bychkov and soloist Karen Gomyo set the tone for an exhilarating evening of mind-expanding musicality.

The self-styled “world’s largest chamber music party” ends an eventful festival with rare early Shostakovich, Grieg’s full-blooded Cello Sonata and Appalachian Spring heard in its original scoring for 13 instruments. 

Montreal-bred Karen Gomyo steals the show in Dvořák's Violin Concerto with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under guest conductor John Storgårds. 

The Finnish conductor values attention to detail across three disparate 20th-century pieces, highlighting the uniform strength of the Chicago musicians.

Fabien Gabel and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra bring Stravinsky's puppets to vivid life, while violinist Karen Gomyo delivers passion and pathos in Chausson's Poème.