Fantasy

Description

Fantasy is the debut album from one of America's leading violinists: Tessa Lark.

American violinist Tessa Lark has chosen a selection of some of her most cherished Fantasies and Rhapsodies for violin for her début solo album 'Fantasy'. Conjuring up a world of make believe and freedom, the musical form of Fantasy (Fantasia, Fantasie, Fantaisie, Phantasie, Phantasy, Fancy – call it what you will) has been with us for centuries, way before the earliest work in Tessa Lark's recital, although she brings us right up-to-date with the form with her own Appalachian Fantasy from 2016.

From Telemann to Lark we cover four centuries of fantasies, with four geographical stop-offs: Hamburg, Vienna, 1500 miles (2400 kms) of eastern North America and Hungary (courtesy of its gypsy traditions) by way of Paris. A budding superstar in the classical realm, multi-award-winning violinist Tessa Lark has been consistently praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. Silver Medalist in the 2014 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, recipient of a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and winner of the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competition, Tessa is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky, delighting audiences with programming that includes Appalachian and bluegrass music and inspiring composers to write for her.

Tessa Lark is the recipient of a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Silver Medalist in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, winner of the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competition, Fellowship from the Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship Fund. Since making her concerto debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at 16, has appeared with dozens of orchestras, festivals, and recital venues including Carnegie Hall, Ravinia, San Francisco Performances, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Buffalo Philharmonic, Marlboro Music, Australia's Musica Viva festival and Seattle and Indianapolis Symphony orchestras. Scheduled for May 2020 is a Lincoln Center recital debut on its prestigious Great Performers Series.

Works written for Tessa include Love Letter by bassist-composer Michael Thurber and Sky, a bluegrass-inspired concerto by Michael Torke premiered and recorded with the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra. - Other recordings include Invention, a debut album of the violin-bass duo Tessa Lark & Michael Thurber that comprises music of J.S. Bach along with non-classical original compositions; and a forthcoming project (also supported by BBT) in collaboration with such artists as multi-instrumentalist/composer Jon Batiste and American fiddling legend Michael Cleveland.

Tessa plays a ca. 1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago

CRITICAL ACCLALIM

"She's one hell of a fiddler…Lark and Lang acquit themselves royally and the sound is superb." - Gramophone