Violinist Jennifer Koh in Concert March 9, 2010

Virtuoso violinist Jennifer Koh and accompanist Reiko Uchida return to San Francisco Performances with an intricate and compelling program.

Koh mesmerizes audiences with the sheer intensity of her playing. An accomplished artist whose natural flair is matched with a probing intellect, she is committed to exploring connections between the pieces she plays, searching for similarities of voice among composers, as evidenced by her program for this concert.

Two Bach partitas - No. 3 in E Major and No. 2 in D minor - bookend the recital, which also includes Eugene Ysaye's "Sonata in A minor"; Kaija Saariaho's "Nocturne, In Memory of Witold Lutoslawski"; Elliott Carter's "Fantasy: Remembering Roger"; and "Lachen verlent," which pairs Esa-Pekka Salonen's Violin Concerto with video by Tal Rosner.

The Ysaye and Salonen works reference the Bach partitas, illuminating the baroque master's relevance to modern music. The Saariaho and Carter pieces are remarkably similar: both were written by major composers to honor deceased composers (Witold Lutoslawski and Roger Sessions, respectively), both are scored for solo violin and both are about four minutes long.

Chicago-born Koh is a graduate of Oberlin College and an alumna of the Curtis Institute who currently lives in New York City. Highlights of her 2009-10 season include return guest appearances with the New Jersey Symphony, National Symphony of Washington, DC and the New World Symphony. Abroad, she makes her Proms debut with the BBC Symphony in the UK premiere of Augusta Read Thomas's violin concerto, "Juggler in Paradise."

Along with Koh, Uchida has been a recital partner for David Shifrin, Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson, and has collaborated with the Borromeo and Tokyo String Quartets. In addition to the Laurel Trio, she is a member of the Moebius Ensemble, a group specializing in 20th-century music and in residence at Columbia University, where she is an associate faculty member.

Official Website: http://www.performances.org