Featuring 17 original solo violin compositions written by 12 leading composers, including Laurie Anderson, Valerie Coleman, Gabriela Lena Frank, Jessica Meyer, Jessie Montgomery, Milica Paranosic and more, including 5 world premiere recordings.

In her new album on Ancalagon Records, Lara St. John is joined by pianist Matt Herskowitz to present Key of A. The album pairs Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9, “Kreutzer,” in A Major with César Franck’s Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano, and also includes Fritz Kreisler’s Schön Rosmarin.

Lara St. John has long been a collector of music from Eastern Europe, beginning with her first trip to Hungary at 11 years old. She met jazz pianist Matt Herskowitz several years ago, and he proved a catalyst to her idea that some of these tunes might be well heard anew. This project includes songs from Armenia, Palestine, the Jewish Diaspora, Russia, Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, Romania, and Hungary. Some are fully written, some are partly improvised, but they all come from tunes that Lara has known and loved for years.

"Something of a phenomenon." -- The Strad

Drawing from two sides of the musical spectrum--Tango and Baroque--comes Lara St. John's newest recording, featuring the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and Eduardo Marturet. The disc features Vivaldi's seminal work, the Four Seasons, which is the top-selling classical work of all time, paired with The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, Astor Piazzola's tribute to Vivaldi. There is tremendous interest in this orchestra, and this is the first time it has recorded with the Ancalagon label following successful recordings with the Deutsche Grammophon label.

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Juno Award-winning artist Lara St. John joins with Marie-Pierre Langlamet, principal harp of the Berlin Philharmonic, to bring new
insight into seminal works recorded in this unique instrumentation for the first time.
Playable in all CD players. For optimal sound, use compatible surround sound system.

World Premiere Recording "Wild, idiosyncratic, and gripping." -- LA Times

"It is difficult to argue with such a technically dazzling and unfailingly musical interpretation." -- Gramophone

Includes two world premiere works. Composers John Corigliano and Matthew Hindson are two of the most important musicians on the global scene. Corigliano won an Academy Award and a Grammy for his music to the film The Red Violin. These two composers were present during the recording sessions.

Violinists Lara and Scott St. John present a new Mozart recording on Lara's Ancalagon Records. The siblings St. John share the spotlight in three of the composer's violin concerti. The focal point of the album is Mozart's monumental Sinfonia Concertante, the last and greatest of his string concerti (K. 364). This piece is rarely recorded, especially in its original form with viola in scordatura. Scott St. John takes up the viola to join his sister on the recording, making this the first time the Sinfonia Concertante has ever been recorded by siblings. The remainder of the album lets each St. John take center stage. Violin Concerto No. 1 (K. 207) is led by Scott, and Lara has the solo voice in Violin Concerto No. 3 (K. 216) The innovative New York-based ensemble The Knights accompany the pair on all the works (also led by the sibling-act of conductor Eric Jacobsen and concertmaster Colin Jacobsen).

"A high-powered soloist" -- New York Times

"Something of a phenomenon" -- Strad

"It is difficult to argue with such a technically dazzling and unfailingly musical interpretation." -- Gramophone

"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?" -- Montreal Gazette

"In her first three recordings she has show a rare mastery of violin technique, which makes her more than just a pretty face... This disc, which contains Bach's three violin concertos, and the first sonata for solo violin, shows that she plays these majestic pieces effortlessly." -- Music Web

Born in London, Ontario, Lara St. John was a child prodigy on the violin at the age of two, and went on her first European tour at the age of ten! At age thirteen she skipped from the eighth grade to a B.A. program at the Curtis Institute of Music. She plays a priceless 1779 Guadagnini violin. Her compelling personality and insightful performances have stimulated interest in classical music in a wide audience that seldom listened to it before. She scandalized some of the old school for appearing scantily clad on a couple of album covers, but she is completely authentic: a great violinist, whatever she is or is not wearing. As one critic wrote, she "has nothing to hide"--her musicality is first class. Lara St. John's brilliant musicianship, striking looks, and vivid personality have made her an authentic classical superstar. Recorded at Skywalker Sound in Super Audio and available in Hybrid.

Lara St. John often displays her anatomy on her CD covers, but she has more to offer than that. In this entertaining collection, she plays freely and on a very large scale, just what gypsy music requires. It may not take much intellect to play Waxman's Carmen Fantasy (I like Sarasate's better, anyway). But it does take intellect, and lots more, to play Bartók's Second Rhapsody as convincingly as she does here, with the very assertive collaboration of Ilan Rechtman. St. John doesn't make the difficulties of Ravel and Sarasate sound easy, but both musicians play with such flair it doesn't matter. Rechtman's gypsy arrangements are goofy and enjoyable. Wide-range sound. --Leslie Gerber