Live Performance Reviews and Articles

Lara St. John - A Little Skin, Lots of Violin

NPR, July 29, 2010

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Montreal Jazz Fest 2010: Matt Herskowitz at Upstairs

Montreal Gazette, July 5, 2010

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Violinist Lara St. John tests limits with 'Seasons'

PJ Star, June 6, 2010

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Her (St. John's) strong, authoritative yet subtle performance was astonishing in its breadth and variety...

Calgary Herald, May 28, 2010

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Classy Approach to Classical Marketing - Violinist St.John creates a stir with approach to image

Calgary Herald, May 27, 2010

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It's Hear and Now

Stephen Magazine, Spring 2010

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Violinist Lara St. John to Perform Vivaldi Masterpiece with South Florida Symphony

South Florida Gay News, April 19, 2010

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ASO's 'Seasons' offered a treat for ears, souls

The Daily Advertiser, February 5, 2010

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St John played with a freewheeling panache, slipping on and off the centre of notes as a singer might.

The Strad, January, 2010

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Much of the set was silly stuff, in a good way, and a reminder that musical comedy works best when the musicianship is first-rate.

New York Times, September 16, 2009

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Violinist Lara St John Keeps Herself Guessing

The Toronto Star, October 22, 2009

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An Ode to Australians Displaced by Atomic Testing

Strings Magazine, September 25, 2009

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Llewellyn seemed to know the tiniest corners of this gorgeously layered score, though the star of the evening was violinist Lara St. John, who played with such identification that you could momentarily convince yourself she was making it up on the spot.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 23, 2009

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Mendelssohn-Fest bei der "styriarte"

Kronenzeitung, July 20, 2009

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Strahlendes Spotlight auf Mendelssohn

Graz Sonntag Kleine Zeitung, July 12, 2009

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A Brother and Sister Join to Perform in the Open Air

The New York Times, June 24, 2009

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St. John played it all with conviction, and from memory.

The Montreal Gazette, May 15, 2009

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St. John gave an intense and passionate performance of the work, eliciting fantastic sound from 1779 "Salabue" Gaudagnini violin on which she currently performs. St. John and the orchestra delivered the complicated Bartok concerto with all its depth, nuance and texture.

The Regina Leader Post, April 6, 2009

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Canadian violinist Lara St. John brought a heavy meal to the Barns At Wolf Trap last Friday evening and devoured it before our eyes. Playing with absolute security, and entirely from memory, she delivered the Beethoven 3rd and Bartok 2nd sonatas, the Schönberg Phantasy, a world premiere by Matthew Hindson, her own arrangement of the Liszt "Totentanz," and Ravel's finger-busting "Tzigane" -- a stunning feat.

The Washington Post, March 24, 2009

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Violinist, orchestra fling themselves into the universe with abandon

Sarasota Herald Tribune, February 2009

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She dominated the platform both physically and virtuosically, and put on a real performance...

THE STRAD, JANUARY 2009

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Lara St John really gave herself to the piece and produced as fine a performance as I have ever heard.

Seen and Heard International, November 2008

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Salute to Cerones brings volley of violinists

The Plain Dealer Music Critic, July 18, 2008

[Scott and Lara St. John] ventured through the technical thickets with blithe virtuosity...

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Lara St John & NAO - ‘in perfect synch’

Ontario Arts Review, July 16, 2008

The pyrotechniques of virtuoso violinist Lara St. John “steeled” the show last night at Steeltown’s Defasco Centre where her towering musical presence girded an amazing evening program of French music.

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Violinist wows with skill, charisma

Times Colonist, June 01, 2008

She played Bach with her eyes closed and body loose, as if in musical rapture. Only after the presto in the Partita did St. John pause to breathe: A deep guttural gasp that punctuated her seamless movement from ethereal pure tones to raucous, virtuosic thrashing.

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Violinist Lara St. John offered a breathtaking performance of the rarely heard Second Violin Concerto by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Arizona Daily Sun, February 24, 2008 St. John's personal style of complete physical engagement with the music elicited an explosive response from the audience...

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Violinist, conductor highlight superb MSO concert

Midland Daily News, February 4, 2008

Acclaimed violinist Lara St. John was superb as she displayed her mastery of the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 at the Saturday night performance at the Midland Center for the Arts

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The passion of Lara St. John for classical music made her solo Bach recital memorable

The Gazette (Montreal), December 2007

Best concert of the year..."A close-to-symphonic tone, a personal way with a phrase: Such artistry defeats all questions of historical correctness," wrote I, struggling to deal specifically with playing that seemed global in impact.

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Suite proves to be perfect for violinist, symphony

With the violin as her voice, she commands our attention, and the music we hear is the music she would have us hear. Moments of 17th-century reflection are found alongside striking bursts of 20th-century modernism, and both come to our ears convincingly interpreted.

El Paso Times, October 20, 2007

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Leonard Bernstein comes alive at Civic Center

Guest violinist Lara St. John received something more than polite applause for her intense solo effort in "The Red Violin."...In some ways, this piece was perfect for this remarkable soloist...

PJStar.com, Sept 17, 2007

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Passionate St. John shows her mettle with violin concerto

The Buffalo News Entertainment, July 8, 2007

Lara St. John’s career blossomed in the 1990s, but it took some time for the press and the public to see beyond the statuesque violinist’s early, seductive press photos and to hear that she was actually a high-level artist.

Any remaining doubters should have been convinced Saturday by her performance of the dark and captivatingly lyrical Sibelius Violin Concerto, with good partnership by Franz and the BPO. It’s a work that often contrasts icy upper register serenity with precipitous descents into the violin’s brooding low end, all of which St. John negotiated with great technical skill and searing lyrical intensity.

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Violinist brings sensuous soul to exotic eve at orchestra

The Honolulu Star Bulletin, May 6, 2007

...Lara St. John lit sparkles from her 1779 "Salabue" Guadagnini violin with a teasing and witty attitude. I mean "attitude" in a dramatic sense. We could almost see St. John's defiant behavior in her dialogue with the orchestra, in particular when she accentuated her short statements. Her singular interpretation of Mozart's "Turkish" Concerto No. 5 combined Romantic affect and tremendous technical skills. With a mind of her own, she conveyed personality and a distinctive edginess.

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"Power and Glory"

Article by Arthur Kaptainis Montreal Gazette, Feb. 24th, 2007

The Montreal High Lights Festival inaugurated its classical programming Thursday with Lara St. John, a violinist once known for her eye-popping cover art and aggressive style. That was the 1990s. The blonde playing Bach in the Bonsecours Chapel was a serious musician, and of the highest order.

A close-to-symphonic tone, a personal way with a phrase: Such artistry defeats all questions of historical correctness. If an interpretation that plumbs the depths and scales the heights of the famous Chaconne is not authentic, what is?

It was interesting to hear St. John project sustained notes without vibrato, not to attenuate the sound but to expand it. The fugue of the Sonata No. 3 was masterful both intellectually and technically. The double of the Courante from the Partita No. 1 was astonishing. What velocity and bravura!

St. John dedicated the Sonata to a friend whose death she learned of only that afternoon. Is this why the recital was so powerfully conceived and expressed? Only about 70 people were present, but they will not soon forget the experience.