By Lawrence Van Gelder 

Lisa Batiashvili’s history with the Sibelius Violin Concerto goes back more than a decade. Lawrence Van Gelder reveals how little practice preceded her professional breakthrough with the work she will perform with the Philharmonic June 10-12 in New York.

Once upon a time, there was a teenage violin prodigy. Facing the most important challenge of her budding career, she violated the venerable first rule of musical success: practice, practice, practice. Did the gods of music visit their wrath upon her? Did her bow break, her strings snap, her instrument turn to dust in her hands? Or do stories that begin “once upon a time” have happy endings?

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