The Jefferson Symphony Orchestra
2025 YAC Winner Li YuQing
Violinist Li Yuqing is just 16 years old and is currently studying with Professor Lucie Robert at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.
In 2022, Li received a full scholarship to attend Manhattan School of Music’s pre-college program.
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Li started violin at 4 years old in China. In 2019, Li won first place in the preliminaries of the Hong Kong International Violin Competition, and in 2020 won the Singapore International Violin Online Competition.
Our Favorite Overture
Earlier this season, JSO musicians voted for the overture they would most like to perform on this concert. This work could be one of your favorite overtures as well, you just have to wait until the concert to find out!
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
The work premiered in 1881 and was panned by the critics as "long and pretentious" and said that "the violin was not played but beaten black and blue".
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Today, it is one of the most frequently performed and is a staple of solo violin repertoire.
Brahms Symphony No. 2
The cheery and almost pastoral mood of the symphony often invites comparison with Beethoven's Pastorale, but Brahms wrote to his publisher in 1877 that the symphony "is so melancholy that you will not be able to bear it. I have never written anything so sad, and the score must come out in mourning."
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The second theme of the first movement resembles Wiegenlied, Op. 49, the tune commonly referred to as "Brahms' Lullaby"
