VC Artist Kerson Leong Releases "Britten & Bruch: Violin Concertos"

On his second album for Alpha Classics, Leong collaborates with the Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Patrick Hahn

Violinist and VC Artist Kerson Leong's newest release covers the contrasting concerti of Max Bruch and Benjamin Britten — as well as Bruch's lamenting single-movement work In Memoriam, Op. 65.

Recorded alongside the young Austrian conductor Patrick Hahn and London's Philharmonia Orchestra, this recording is Leong's third solo album — and the first in which he appears as the single concerto soloist.

Leong told The Violin Channel that the events of the last few years loomed large when he was considering which repertoire to include on the disc.

"On the one hand, I want to be immersed in an intense soundscape that reflects the multifaceted nature of what it means to be human, and on the other hand, I feel it's equally important to be transported to a different world in the ethereal sense, far away from the realities of day-to-day life," he said.

"With the onset of the last few years, in which the world has experienced much difficulty and uncertainty due to pandemic, war, and crisis, it soon occurred to me just how personal and relevant this choice of repertoire had been, and how much more determined I became to bring this project to fruition," he continued.

"I want this album to reflect the journey from one extreme to the other, as if the solo violin, not unlike a protagonist’s character arc, undergoes a transformation from beginning to end," Leong added. "Recording this album was a hugely cathartic moment, and it is in a spirit of catharsis that I offer this album."

A former Associated Artist at Belgium's Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel where he was mentored by Augustin Dumay, Kerson is a former Junior first prize winner at the Menuhin Competition. He was also awarded the prestigious Grand Prize at the Canadian Stepping Stone Competition, the Grand Prize at the Canadian Music Competition for five consecutive years, and the Radios Francophones Publiques Young Soloist Prize.

His first album for Alpha Classics featured the complete sonatas for solo violin by Eugène Ysaÿe and was awarded the Diapason d’Or Découverte and the Choc de Classica.

His 22/23 season includes solo performances with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Phiharmonic, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Quebec Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Les Violons du Roy and Symphony Nova Scotia among others — as well as a tour of Sweden with the Camerata Nordica.

In the 2018/19 season, Kerson served as Artist-in-Residence with the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montreal under the direction of conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

As an educator, he has been invited to give masterclasses and teach at various festivals and universities including the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the University of Ottawa, Dalhousie University, and Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Kerson performs on the ‘ex Bohrer, Baumgartner’ Guarneri del Gesu courtesy of Canimex Inc, Drummondville (Quebec), Canada.