JOSHUA BROWN
Photo by Sebastian Orr
"Had he played from behind a curtain, you wouldn’t have believed that Joshua Brown….was only 15. His interpretation of Dmitri Shostakovich’s first violin concerto was so maturely wrought that it might have come from a seasoned professional. Brilliantly played and expertly paced, Brown’s performance checked into every emotional corner of [the] work . . . Brown was spellbinding throughout his entire time on stage.”
clevelandclassical.com
BIOGRAPHY
Violinist Joshua Brown has been praised by audiences and critics worldwide for his “richness of sound, elegance of reading...commitment of every moment at the service of the work...” (La Libre). Joshua gained international attention after winning the 2nd Prize and both Audience Awards at the 2024 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Other international competition successes include the 1st Prize at the inaugural 2023 Global Music Education International Violin Competition in Beijing, China, as well as the 1st Prize and Audience Award at the 2019 International Violin Competition of Leopold Mozart in Augsburg, Germany.
Joshua was first recognized for his debut performance with the Cleveland Orchestra, of which ClevelandClassical wrote, “Brilliantly played and expertly paced, Brown’s performance checked into every emotional corner... Brown was spellbinding throughout his entire time on stage.” Joshua has gone on to perform regularly with orchestras around the world, including the Munich Radio Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Civic Orchestra, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, and Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege, among others, continually garnering praise from critics. After his performance of Brahms’ Violin Concerto in Beijing with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Strad wrote, “Brown spun out silky, weightless phrases that seemed suspended in time;” in Belgium, Le Soir described him as “a real musician, of great sensitivity...with a real sense of nuance;” and the Indianapolis Star described his sound after a performance of Mozart’s 5th Violin Concerto as “addictive and shimmering, with emotions like dynamic colors that shifted beneath a clear, glassy surface.”
A passionate recitalist and chamber musician, Joshua has also appeared regularly in series such as Chicago's Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Festival Musiq3 in Brussels, the Tchaikovsky Festival in Moscow, the ProMusica series in Mexico, the Matinée Musicale series in Cincinnati, the Jupiter Chamber Players series in New York City, and the North Shore Chamber Music Festival in Chicago. Joshua received the Kronberg Academy’s 2023 Manfred Grommek Prize, and has been named a Pirastro Artist, Yamaha Young Performing Artist, and Luminarts Fellow, among other awards. Upcoming highlights of the 2024/25 season include a recital tour of Taiwan and South Korea, as well as a series of performances of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra in Japan.
Joshua is currently pursuing his Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory of Music studying under Donald Weilerstein after also earning his Bachelor and Master of Music there. Before his time at NEC, Joshua studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago. Joshua is grateful to be playing an outstanding Nicolo Amati violin from Cremona, circa 1635-1640, on extended loan through the generosity of the Mary B. Galvin Foundation and the efforts of the Stradivari Society, a division of Bein & Fushi, Inc. The Mary B. Galvin Foundation, Inc. and the Stradivari Society support the very highest level of string playing by loaning precious antique Italian instruments to artists of exceptional talent and ability.
"...his lithe playing betrays a musical maturity beyond his 17 years. A student of Almita and Roland Vamos, the young man played with great poise and a silken tone on his 1679 Guarneri (which he possesses as the youngest recipient of an instrument from the Stradivari Society of Chicago), and is clearly someone to watch in years to come.”
Chicago Classical Review
PHOTOS
Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Brown's choice of Dmitri Shostakovich's dark and demanding concerto in A minor was unusual for so young an artist, but he brought a fully mature sensibility to the dark and emotionally ambiguous first and third movements, wherein Shostakovich eschews technical virtuosity in favor of songful expressiveness. In the fast movements, Brown tore into the demanding score, inhabiting the exhilarating (albeit frightening) dance of death that is the Scherzo, and the ironic (albeit high-spirited) Burlesca that brings the work to an ovation-prompting conclusion. Brown played with such assurance that it was easy to forget he was a young teenager.”
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BEETHOVEN SONATA NO. 7 IN C MINOR, OP.30
MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 3
BACH PARTITA NO. 1, ALLEMANDA AND CORRENTE (AND DOUBLES)
BARTOK VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 2
CHINA GMEL COMPETITION PRELIM ROUND
TCHAIKOVSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO
YSAŸE SONATA NO. 1 FOR SOLO VIOLIN IN G MINOR, OP. 27
MOZART VIOLIN SONATA, K 302
ERNST GRAND CAPRICE ON DER ERLKÖNIG
BEETHOVEN VIOLIN SONATA NO. 6 IN A MAJOR, OP. 30
CONCERTS
A gifted violinist and a master already at the age of 20 - there is no other way to describe Joshua Brown. This year's winner of the Augsburger Leopold Mozart Violin Competition captured the audience with virtuosity and musicality during his performance with Verena Louis (piano) . . . No matter whether it's producing virtuosic fireworks or suggesting a lonely walk in the woods: Joshua Brown, in seamless collaboration with Verena Louis, compellingly interprets all facets of Romanticism, including Tchaikovsky's 'Valse Sentimentale' as a yearning encore. All doors are open to this violinist."
Allgäuer Zeitung
UPCOMING CONCERTS
September 21, 2024
Recital
National Theatre and National Concert Hall
Taipei, Taiwan
September 24, 2024
Recital
Uljin Art Center
Uljin, South Korea
September 25, 2024
Recital
Gyeongju Art Center
Gyeongju, South Korea
September 27, 2024
Recital
Dangjin Art Center
Dangjin, South Korea
September 29, 2024
Recital
Seoquipo Art Center
Jeju Island, Seogwipo, South Korea
October 2, 2024
Recital
Studio 4
Flagey (Brussels), Belgium
October 3, 2024
Recital
Château de Beloeil
Beloeil, Belgium
October 5, 2024
Recital
Villa Empain - Boghossian Foundation
Brussels, Belgium
October 21, 2024
Jupiter Symphony Chamber PlayerChamber Recital
Good Shepherd Church
New York, New York
October 22, 2024
Recital with pianist Zhu Wang
Les Yeux Art Foundation in collaboration with Deutsche Bank
New York, New York
October 27, 2024
Boston Chamber Symphony
Beethoven Violin Concerto
First Church Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
November 16, 2024
Kyoto Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Kyoto Concert Hall
Kyoto, Japan
November 17, 2024
Kyoto Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Fukuyama Hall of Art & Culture
Hiroshima, Japan
November 18, 2024
Kyoto Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Fukuyama Hall of Art & Culture
Hiroshima, Japan
PAST CONCERTS
2024:
June 29, 2024
Recital
Queen Elisabeth Competition Musiq3 Audience Award Concert
Studio 4
Flagey (Brussels), Belgium
June 26, 2024
Belgium National Orchestra
Mendelssohn Violin Concert
Schouwburg
Leuven, Belgium
June 25, 2024
Belgium National Orchestra
Mendelssohn Violin Concert
Palais des Beaux-Arts
Charleroi, Belgium
June 18, 2024
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Salle Philharmonique
Liège, Belgium
June 15, 2024
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Concertgebouw
Bruges, Belgium
June 14, 2024
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Kulturzentrum Traingel
Sankt Vith, Belgium
June 13, 2024
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Namur Concert Hall
Namur, Belgium
June 12, 2024
Queen Elisabeth Competition Closing Concert
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Centre for Fine Arts
Brussels, Belgium
June 1, 2024
Belgium National Orchestra
Brahms Violin Concerto
Centre for Fine Arts
Brussels, Belgium
May 18, 2024
Orchestre Royale Chambre de Wallonie
Mozart Concerto No. 1
Studio 4
Flagey (Brussels), Belgium
April 20, 2024
Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra
Williams Lark Ascending
Irving Arts Center
Irving, Texas
April 19, 2024
Garland Symphony Orchestra
Williams Lark Ascending
Granville Arts Center
Garland, Texas
April 18, 2024
Symphony Arlington
Williams Lark Ascending
Arlington Music Hall
Arlington, Texas
March 15, 2024
Recital with pianist Marta Aznavoorian
North Shore Congregation Israel
Glencoe, IL
January 24, 2024
Stradivari Society Series Recital
The Woman’s Athletic Club
Chicago, IL
2023:
December 10, 2023
Boston Chamber Symphony
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Temple Ohabei Shalom
Brookline, Massachusetts
December 2, 2023
Pro Musica of San Miguel de Allende
Recital with pianist Marta Aznavoorian
St. Paul's Church
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
September 11, 2023
Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players
Chamber Recital
Good Shepherd Church
New York, New York
July 8-30, 2023
Verbier Festival
Eglise de Verbier
Verbier, Switzerland
June 20, 2023
Plymouth Chamber Players Festival
Plymouth Heights Christian Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI
May 9, 2023
Honors Chamber Recital
Jordan Hall
Boston, MA
April 20, 2023
Violins of Hope Opening Night Concert
North Shore Congregational Israel
Glencoe, IL
January 28, 2023
MDR-Sinfonieorchester
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Congress Centrum
Suhl, Germany
January 27, 2023
MDR-Sinfonieorchester
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Kongresshalle
Leipzig, Germany
January 18, 2023
Stradivari Society Series Recital
The Woman’s Athletic Club
Chicago, IL
2022:
October 17, 2022
Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players
Chamber Recital
Good Shepherd Church
New York, New York
September 23, 2022
Bartók Violin Concerto
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
Hilbert Circle Theater
Indianapolis, Indiana
September 21, 2022
Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K.219
Kreisler Liebesfreud (orch. J. Kuusisto)
East Coast Chamber Orchestra
Schrott Center for the Arts
Indianapolis, Indiana
May 11, 2022
Solo Recital
Pierce Hall
Boston, MA
March 5, 2022
NSCMF Onstage/Offstage Concert Series
PianoForte Chicago
Chicago, IL
January 27, 2022 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
Violins of Hope
Temple Emanu-El
New York, New York
January 24, 2022
Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players
Chamber Recital
Good Shepherd Church
New York, New York
January 19, 2022
Stradivari Society Series Recital
The Woman’s Athletic Club
Chicago, IL
2021:
September 27, 2021
Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players
Chamber Recital
Good Shepherd Church
New York, New York
August 8, 2021
Pro Musica of San Miguel de Allende
Recital with pianist Jingsi Lu
St. Paul's Church
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
June 11, 2021
North Shore Chamber Music Festival
Village Presbyterian Church
Northbrook, IL
May 30, 2021 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg State Academic Cappella
Brahms Violin Concerto
State Cappella of St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Russia
2020:
December 16, 2020 (virtual due to pandemic)
Stradivari Society Series Recital
Nichols Concert Hall
Evanston, IL
December 9, 2020 (virtual due to pandemic)
Dame Myra Hess Concert Series
Chicago Cultural Center
Chicago, IL
October 10, 2020 (virtual due to pandemic)
Luminarts Next Begins Now Concert
Union League Club of Chicago
Chicago, IL
August 29, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
"Klassik-Marathon" Concert
Rheingau Musik Festival
Schloss Johannisberg
Geisenheim, Germany
August 22, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
MDR-Musiksommer Festival
Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5
MDR-Sinfonieorchester
Freyburg/Unstrut, Germany
August 14, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
Violin/Piano Recital
Langenargen Schlosskonzerte Series
Schloss Montfort
Langenargen, Germany
June 17, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
Stradivari Society Series Recital
The Woman’s Athletic Club
Chicago, IL
June 13, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
North Shore Chamber Music Festival
Village Presbyterian Church
Northbrook, IL
June 11, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
North Shore Chamber Music Festival
Village Presbyterian Church
Northbrook, IL
May 31, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg State Academic Cappella
Beethoven Violin Concerto
State Cappella of St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Russia
May 2, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
Kenosha Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Ralph J. Houghton Performance Center
Kenosha, WI
April 20, 2020 (livestreamed from home due to pandemic)
Annual ABC Gala
Carnegie Hall
New York City, NY
April 14, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Kleiner Goldener Saal
Augsberg, Germany
April 13, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Autohaus Reisacher
Memmingen, Germany
April 12, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Konzerthaus
Ravensburg, Germany
April 8, 2020 (cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic)
Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Stadttheater
Lindau, Germany
2019:
December 3, 2019
Lakeview Symphony Orchestra
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Athenaeum Theater
Chicago, IL
November 10, 2019
Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2
Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church
Elmhurst, IL
September 27, 2019
Recital
International Festival of Chamber Music Kempten 2019
Kempten, Germany
September 26, 2019
Opening Concert for 2019/2020 Mozarteum Season
Stiftung Mozarteum, Großer Saal
Salzburg, Austria
September 4, 2019
NEC Convocation
Jordan Hall
Boston, MA
June 8, 2019
Munich Radio Orchestra
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Kongress Hall
Augsburg, Germany
June 7, 2019
Munich Radio Orchestra
Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Kongress Hall
Augsburg, Germany
March 20, 2019
Stradivari Society Series Recital
The Woman’s Athletic Club
Chicago, IL
March 3, 2019
Parkridge Civic Orchestra
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Maine South Auditorium
Park Ridge, IL
"15-year-old Joshua Brown ……. proved that he is accomplished in a variety of musical styles. He began with an awe-inspiring performance of Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 that suggested he has a musician with decades of experience living inside him. His soulful and sensitive interpretation of the slow movement from Mozart’s Concerto No. 3, K. 216 showed that he has an opera singer in residence there as well. The cadenza was breathtaking. His opening flourishes in Waxman’s Carmen Fantasie were agile and athletic. Throughout the work, he tossed off wild technical passages with nimble dexterity, never taking leave of his full, clear, sound, pointed articulations, and spot-on pitch. The “Habanera” was sultry (that inner diva came to the fore once again). Throughout his set, his collaboration with pianist Nelson Padgett was perfect. This was a performance to sit back and enjoy.”
clevelandclassical.com
NEWS
VC Young Artist Violinist Joshua Brown on Preparing for a Competition
The Violin Channel
"We caught up with Joshua to discuss what he's learned from competing internationally..."
Violinist Joshua Brown wins $100,000 First Prize in 2023 China International Violin Competition
Violinist.com
"Twenty-three-year-old American violinist Joshua Brown has won First Prize in the Beijing-based China International Music Competition, also known as the Global Music Education League Violin Competition."
VC Artist Violinist Joshua Brown
The Violin Channel
"Praised for his "soulful and sensitive” playing as well as his “addictive and shimmering” sound, American violinist Joshua Brown is being warmly embraced by audiences and critics around the globe."
Review of Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with MDR-Sinfonieorchester
Freies Wort in Südthüringen.de
"In Suhl, the young American violinist Joshua Brown takes his audience by storm: effortlessly, he seems to have the part in his fingers and in his mind, with a youthful passion that does not tempt him to indulge. It satisfies, it ignites - and in the end the audience stomps with enthusiasm."
Review of Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Lakeview Orchestra
Chicago Classical Review
"Soloist Joshua Brown was a revelation in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto . . . Brown drew a sweet tone from his Guarneri violin, and even in the concerto’s most florid passages his phrasing was clear yet warm. He obviously has technique to spare, but his performance never slipped into showy, rough-edged fireworks. With the orchestra’s attentive accompaniment, the concerto sounded remarkably intimate. Brown saved the fireworks for his encore, Schubert’s searing song, Erlkonig, . . . Brown’s fierce torrent of high-speed, shuddering phrases evoked Schubert’s tale of a life-and-death race through a fairy-tale forest haunted by the evil Elf King."
The Week in Reviews
Violinist.com
"Joshua Brown performed in recital with pianist Verena Louis at Kempten International Chamber Music Festival in Germany.
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Allgäuer Zeitung: 'A gifted violinist and a master already at the age of (19) - there is no other way to describe Joshua Brown.' "
"Already a Master at the Age of 20: The Young Violinist Joshua Brown Amazes with Virtuosity and Musicality"
Allgäuer Zeitung
"A gifted violinist and a master already at the age of 20 - there is no other way to describe Joshua Brown. This year's winner of the Augsburger Leopold Mozart Violin Competition captured the audience with virtuosity and musicality during his performance with Verena Louis (piano)..... No matter whether it's producing virtuosic fireworks or suggesting a lonely walk in the woods: Joshua Brown, in seamless collaboration with Verena Louis, compellingly interprets all facets of Romanticism, including Tchaikovsky's 'Valse Sentimentale' as a yearning encore. All doors are open to this violinist."
"The Winner is ... Foundation Mozarteum/Award Winner"
Drehpunktkultur.com
"A brilliant impression was left by the American violinist Joshua Brown, winner of the 10th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart in Augsburg in 2019. In the Grand Caprice for violin solo on Schubert's Erlkönig by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, he brought out the colors of the vocal line and the accompaniment in a pictorial form, as well as the virtuoso technical brilliance of the Carmen Fantasy by Franz Waxman."
"Violinist Joshua Brown Wins Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition"
Violinist.com
Congratulations to the winners in the 10th Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition in Augsburg, Germany! They are:
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First Prize/Mozart Prize (€ 20.000): Joshua Brown, 19 of the United States
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Second Prize (€ 12.000): Karisa Chiu, 19 of the United States
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Third Prize (€ 9.000): Kaoru Oe, 24 of Japan
"Prizes Awarded at Augsburg's Leopold Mozart Competition"
Violin Channel
"19-year-old violinist Joshua Brown from the United States has today been awarded 1st prize at the 2019 Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition – in Augsburg, Germany.
A student of Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory, Joshua will receive €20,000, a CD recording – plus a number of important orchestral and festival performance opportunities."
"Joshua Brown wins Leopold Mozart Competition"
The Strad
"The 10th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart has announced its winners. They are:
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First Prize-Mozart Prize - Joshua Brown (US)
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Second Prize - Karisa Chiu (US)
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Third Prize - Kaoru Oe (Japan)
Joshua Brown also won invitations to a Kronberg Academy masterclass and recital at the International Chamber Music Festival Kempten 2019"
"For the first time a man - Joshua Brown wins Mozart Violin Competition"
Augsburger Allgemeine
"With finely cut tone, … [Brown] scored with meticulous articulation, lively dynamics and an understanding of the rhetoric of this music…. Brown … renounced superficial sound enrichment and preferred to rely on narrative statement, even in the large, technically excellently mastered cadenza of the first movement . . . In addition, there were many spectacular quieter moments, such as his dialogue with the clarinet in the slow movement of the concerto."
"Men Can Also Win Mozart"
Augsburger Allgemeine, Feuilleton Regional
"His brilliant portrayal [in the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto], with its lyrical colors and virtuoso drive, radiated refinement [and] the Kongress Hall [audience] celebrated with standing ovations."
"Chicago’s 2019 Luminarts Cultural Foundation Grants Awarded"
Violin Channel
"The Luminarts Cultural Foundation, in Chicago, has this week announced 18-year-old American violinist Joshua Brown as a recipient of 1 of 5 2019 Luminarts Fellowship grants.
A student of Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory, Joshua will receive US $7,500 – to be used towards artistic funding and career development projects."
"Winners announced in the 2018 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition"
Violinist.com
"Congratulations to the winners of the 45nd annual Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition! Top winners included ..... the Kairos String Quartet from the Academy of the Music Institute of Chicago, which won the Gold Medal in the Junior Division. The Kairos has had quite a month, having also won first prize in the Junior Division of the M-Prize just last week."
"Violinist Joshua Brown Named Winner in 2018 Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition"
Violinist.com
"Congratulations to violinist Joshua Brown, who was among 11 young musicians selected as winners in the 2018 Yamaha Young Performing Artists competition..... Brown, of Gurnee, Ill., is the youngest and only pre-college winner this year, and he is the only violinist to have been named a Yamaha Young Performing Artist since 2014."
"2018 Yahama Music Young Performing Artist Winners Announced"
Violin Channel
The Week in Reviews
Violinist.com
Joshua Brown performed Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony.
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The News-Gazette: "Brown is clearly a young performer of considerable promise. His sparkling playing in the Vivaldi 'Four Seasons' Concertos, along with fine ensemble work by members of the C-U Symphony, ably led at the harpsichord by Stephen Alltop, gave renewed joy to this often heard composition. As encore, Brown played with dazzling bravura the most famous of Niccolò Paganini's Études, No. 24 in A Minor, on which so many famous composers have written variations."
Review of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra
The News-Gazette
Elmhurst Symphony Offers Two Opportunities to Hear Violin Phenom Joshua Browm
Chicago Tribune
When he won the Elmhurst Symphony Stanger Audition and performed with the ESO in 2015, it was clear that Joshua Brown was a star in the making. Now you can hear this award-winning violin sensation perform Vivaldi's well-loved The Four Season along with members of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra as part of a program of Baroque favorites that will warm a chilly January afternoon.....
The Week in Reviews
Violinist.com
"Joshua Brown performed Mozart's Rondo for Violin and Orchestra with the North Shore Chamber Music Festival.
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Chicago Classical Review: '...his lithe playing betrays a musical maturity beyond his 17 years. A student of Almita and Roland Vamos, the young man played with great poise and a silken tone on his 1679 Guarneri (which he possesses as the youngest recipient of an instrument from the Stradivari Society of Chicago), and is clearly someone to watch in years to come.' "
Review of Mozart Rondo with ProMuisca Chamber Orchestra
Chicago Classical Review
The evening opened with an accomplished reading of Mozart’s Rondo for Violin and Orchestra in C Major, K. 373 with rising local violin star Joshua Brown as soloist. Brown is the third annual honoree of the Arkady Fomin Scholarship Fund, an award granted each year through a “non-competitive process…….by an anonymous advisory board” to a gifted young artist who embodies the philosophy of the fund’s eponymous late violin pedagogue.
Whatever the procedure used to select a winner, it clearly worked in Brown’s case, as his lithe playing betrays a musical maturity beyond his 17 years. A student of Almita and Roland Vamos, the young man played with great poise and a silken tone on his 1679 Guarneri (which he possesses as the youngest recipient of an instrument from the Stradivari Society of Chicago), and is clearly someone to watch in years to come.”
The Stradivari Society: Connecting Performing Artists With Highly-Valued Instruments
Violinist.com
....... "Joshua Brown, the most recent recipient of a Stradivari Society violin, attests to this phenomenon. Brown, 17, was granted the use of a 1679 Pietro Guarneri violin in December, which was a step up from his already-quite-nice 1910 Postiglione. 'Every week I feel like I get to know it better and better,' said Brown..... 'To get a great sound out of this violin and a lot of Guarneri violins, you really have to push a little more and try a little harder. This has been really good for me, learning to make that extra effort.' ......"
"My New Journey With My New Guarneri"
Violin Channel
"The Violin Channel recently caught up with 17 year old American violinist Joshua Brown – who was last week granted the long term use of a 1679 Pietro Guarneri violin from the Stradivari Society of Chicago. In a VC-exclusive blog, Joshua expresses his appreciation for his new musical companion – and tells us what he feels it will mean for his emerging career......"
"Joshua Brown, 17, Receives Pietro Guarneri Violin through Stradivari Society"
Violinist.com
"Violinist Joshua Brown, 17, is the newest recipient of an instrument loan through the Chicago-based Stradivari Society.
Brown, a student of Almita and Roland Vamos at the Academy of the Music Institute of Chicago, will have long-term use of a 1679 Pietro Guarneri made in Cremona, loaned through a generous patron.
Already a veteran of the competition circuit, Brown has won top prizes at many competitions, including the 2015 IX International Tchaikovsky Competition (Audience Award, Honorable Mention, the Academy of Arts Golden Medal, and the Siberian Academy of Arts Talent Award); the 2015 Cooper International Violin Competition (Second Place and the Audience Award); and the 2016 Stradivarius International Violin Competition (Third Place)."
17-year-old Joshua Brown receives Pietro Guarneri Violin on long-term loan"
The Strad
"Joshua Brown has been granted use of a violin by Pietro Guarneri of Mantua on long-term loan. The 17-year-old student at the Music Institute of Chicago has received the Cremonese-made 1679 instrument through the Stradivari Society thanks to a generous patron.
Winner of the 2016 ENKOR International Music Competition, the young violinist was also First Prize winner in the 2016-2017 American Music Institute’s Violin Competition, and National YoungArts winner in 2016 and 2017.
‘I am so grateful and honored that the Stradivari Society has granted me the long-term use of the Pietro Guarneri violin,’ said Brown. ‘Playing such a high calibre instrument really opens up so many more ways for me to express myself as a musician, and I am so thankful to both my patron and the Society for believing in me.’
The Stradivari Society currently loans instruments to artists including Vadim Gluzman, Augustin Hadelich, Clara Jumi-Kang, Stephen Waarts and Philippe Quint."
"Talented Teen Latest Loan Recipient From Chicago's Stradivari Society"
Violin Channel
"It has been announced today that 17 year old American violinist Joshua Brown has been granted the long term use of a 1679 Pietro Guarneri violin – on loan from a private patron of the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
A student of Almita and Roland Varmos at the Academy of Music Institute of Chicago, Joshua is a former major prize winner at the Enkor and Cooper International Violin Competitions.
'I am so grateful and honored that the Stradivari Society has granted me the long-term use of the Pietro Guarneri violin … ' Joshua has told The Violin Channel.
'Playing such a high caliber instrument really opens up so many more ways for me to express myself as a musician, and I am so thankful to both my patron and the Society for believing in me,' he has said.
The Stradivari Society of Chicago also currently supports VC Artists Paul Huang, Augustin Hadelich, Francisco Fullana and Stephen Waarts."
Review of Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 with Cleveland Orchestra
clevelandclassical.com
"Had he played from behind a curtain, you wouldn’t have believed that Joshua Brown (from Gurnee, Illinois) was only 15. His interpretation of Dmitri Shostakovich’s first violin concerto was so maturely wrought that it might have come from a seasoned professional. Brilliantly played and expertly paced, Brown’s performance checked into every emotional corner of a work that includes long, bleak elegies, wild Klezmer-like outbursts, a super-serious Passacaglia and a cheeky Burlesca. Never losing control and producing a consistently handsome tone, even when muted, Brown was spellbinding throughout his entire time on stage. Ling and the Orchestra followed him closely, and if a few details went awry, it was difficult to believe that this concerto could have been put together on so little rehearsal. Brown received an enthusiastic standing ovation — and some of the audience wanted to applaud early, after the Scherzo."
Review of Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 with Cleveland Orchestra
The Plain Dealer
"Brown's choice of Dmitri Shostakovich's dark and demanding concerto in A minor was unusual for so young an artist, but he brought a fully mature sensibility to the dark and emotionally ambiguous first and third movements, wherein Shostakovich eschews technical virtuosity in favor of songful expressiveness.
In the fast movements, Brown tore into the demanding score, inhabiting the exhilarating (albeit frightening) dance of death that is the Scherzo, and the ironic (albeit high-spirited) Burlesca that brings the work to an ovation-prompting conclusion. Brown played with such assurance that it was easy to forget he was a young teenager."
Review of Recital Round at Cooper International Violin Competition
clevelandclassical.com
"Following his stunning performance of the Shostakovich concerto on Tuesday, 15-year-old Joshua Brown (from Gurnee, Illinois) proved on Wednesday evening that he is accomplished in a variety of musical styles. He began with an awe-inspiring performance of Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 that suggested he has a musician with decades of experience living inside him. His soulful and sensitive interpretation of the slow movement from Mozart’s Concerto No. 3, K. 216 showed that he has an opera singer in residence there as well. The cadenza was breathtaking. His opening flourishes in Waxman’s Carmen Fantasie were agile and athletic. Throughout the work, he tossed off wild technical passages with nimble dexterity, never taking leave of his full, clear, sound, pointed articulations, and spot-on pitch. The “Habanera” was sultry (that inner diva came to the fore once again). Throughout his set, his collaboration with pianist Nelson Padgett was perfect. This was a performance to sit back and enjoy."
Review of Concerto Round at Cooper International Violin Competition
clevelandclassical.com
"15-year-old Joshua Brown from Gurnee, Illinois, provided a dramatic contrast to the romantic concertos with his riveting performance of Shostakovich’s first concerto. Playing its bleak opening movement sotto voce, with controlled vibrato and sustained intensity, Brown made a complete contrast in the Scherzo. Rock-solid rhythm, a more extroverted intensity and color changes held the attention until he finally let everything loose during a wild Klezmer dance. His sensitive side re-emerged in the Passacaglia, followed by an expressive account of the startling cadenza. Brown’s impeccable handling of the meter changes in the final dance brought the piece to a thrilling conclusion, in partnership with pianist Nelson Padgett."
Interview by Dorothy Andries, Pioneer Press
Chicago Tribune
"Brown is the Rachel Barton Pine Merit Scholarship Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago's Academy, where he studies violin with Almita and Roland Vamos. He has played in Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center as well in Ravinia's Bennett-Gordon Hall, and has won an impressive list of competitions. 'But up until now, a lot of them were closed to me because of my age,' he said. 'Now that I am in high school, I have many more opportunities.'
He is plunging into them with singular purpose. 'The main reason I compete is to be able to play as a soloist with orchestras,' Brown said. 'It is always a great experience for me, especially since I hope to become a professional musician someday.'.........."
"With finely cut tone, … [Brown] scored with meticulous articulation, lively dynamics and an understanding of the rhetoric of this music…. Brown … renounced superficial sound enrichment and preferred to rely on narrative statement, even in the large, technically excellently mastered cadenza of the first movement . . . In addition, there were many spectacular quieter moments, such as his dialogue with the clarinet in the slow movement of the concerto.”
Augsburger- Allgemeine
