There are certain names that you just cannot dismiss. And Sarah Chang is at the forefront of these names. YouTube has thousands of videos featuring Chang as the guest soloist of some of the greatest orchestras of the world, playing at renowned festivals, and across stages in every country in the world. For over a decade now, she has been one of the most popular names in the field of classical music. She has been the recipient of numerous music awards, as well as the title of Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2008. Since 2011, she has also been the U.S. Ambassador of the Arts.
She is one of the finest examples of the term “prodigy.” Imagine getting admitted to the Juillard School at the age of five, and with a performance of Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. Her album The Debut Recital features her at the age of nine, in 1989, playing Paganini, Shostakovich, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Kreisler, Khachaturian and more, and she plays them like a pro. The only way that you’d know her age at the time of recording is if you read the information on the back cover of the CD; she can otherwise easily pass for a professional adult player. Her debut solo performance with an orchestra was also the same year, when she shared the stage with (hold tight!) the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1, under the baton of legendary conductor Zubin Mehta.
I have had the chance to catch her live on stage in 2007, at the Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall in Harbiye. Since then I have been waiting for the day when I would get to witness the phenomenon of Sarah Chang again. The chance came last week, thanks to İş Sanat, the venue that has my eternal gratitude for having also made my dreams come true in years past with performances by Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, and Maxim Vengerov. Its present to me this year was Sarah Chang.
The venue hosted the Filarmonia de Camara de Valencia, under the baton of Ricardo Casero, with Sarah Chang as the soloist. Chang played for the entirety of the first interval. Two compositions were featured: Elgar’s Serenade in F minor for Strings (Op. 20) and Franck’s Sonata in A Major, as arranged by Fabio Vacchi. The Serenade lasted eleven minutes, but featured three movements: Allegro piacevole of a meter of pleasant rhythm, Larghetto of gentle sentiments, and Allegretto – come prima that brought back the joyful and pleasantness of the first movement.
The Filarmonia de Camara de Valencia and Sarah Chang then moved on to Franck’s Violin Sonata in A Major. The beauty of composition, the sound of the Camara de Valencia, and the dexterity, talent and captivating presence of Sarah Chang wowed us in a composition of improvisations, recitations, fantasies, and lively but sweet movements of Allegretto, Allegro, Recitativo/Fantasia, and Allegretto poco mosso. The audience had Sarah Chang return on stage thrice, with three encores: A gentle and brisk waltz of Dvorak and two movements from the Four Season’s of Vivaldi.
The interval featured me and my quest for a Sarah Chang autograph. After much perseverance and determination, I somehow made it backstage and managed to extract an autograph from Chang on her above mentioned The Debut Recital album. I was the last person to return to the auditorium at the end of the interval and was beaming victoriously as the Filarmonia de Camara de Valencia took the staage for the rest of the program. Barber’s Adagio for Strings (Op. 11) and Dvorak’s Serenade in F Major (Op. 22) for Winds had me taking note of lyrical tranquility, harmonic echoes, tempos of waltz, and scherzo notes. The thirty-five minute program ended before we knew it. But, it left an imprint on our memories that will linger for much longer.
