NO SECOND GUESSING: CLASSICAL PIONEER BRINGS SOLO BACH TO KANSAS CITY
The Independent, Paul Horsley
September 2023
One woman, standing alone onstage. No pianist, no music-stand: Just Hilary Hahn and her violin, creating miracles. That is what Harriman-Jewell Series audiences are likely to experience this October 13th, when one of the most gifted violinists of our time performs works from J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. It’s difficult to think of an artist today who has had a greater impact on our modern view of classical music than Hilary, who was born in Virginia, raised in Baltimore, and educated at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Hilary Hahn made her Kansas City solo recital debut on the Harriman-Jewell Series in 2004; this is only her second Series appearance.
In addition to a global career, the three-time Grammy Award winner has commissioned dozens of works, created a travel blog, curated educational programming such as the Bring Your Own Baby concerts, and maintained a constant and active web presence. This summer she released a death-defying recording of Eugène Ysaÿe’s Six Sonatas, on Deutsche Grammophon.
Her unique recording of Bach’s unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas appeared in two phases: She released three of the six at age 17, for Sony, and the other three more than 20 years later, for Decca. Together they form a testament to the versatility and consistency of her artistry.
Playing these works live is different matter. “There’s quite a psychological process to playing an entire concert by oneself,” she said recently on YouTube. “And Bach’s music has so many layers to it that you can get very lost second-guessing yourself. So I had to learn to really completely trust the moment and trust myself and trust that the hall would somehow tell me the tempo that needed to be played that day…”
Recently Hilary answered some questions about life, music, and her career as one of a handful of women in a historically male-dominated field.