About Kerson Leong

Kerson Leong has been described as “not just one of Canada’s greatest violinists but one of the greatest violinists, period” (Toronto Star). Forging a unique path since his First Prize win at the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in 2010, he continues to win over colleagues and audiences alike with “a mixture of spontaneity and mastery, elegance, fantasy, intensity that makes his sound recognizable from the first notes” (Le Monde). 

A sought-after soloist, he was hand-picked by Yannick Nézet-Séguin to be his artist-in-residence with the Orchestre Métropolitain during the 18/19 season and has performed in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Wigmore Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre, and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. His latest album, featuring the Britten and Bruch violin concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Patrick Hahn for Alpha Classics, was released to widespread critical acclaim. 

Program Notes

Few works have been more frequently revisited in the MCO’s history than Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. We open the 2025/26 season with a striking reimagining of the incomparable masterpiece, created by German/British composer Max Richter. Be prepared for a transformational experience: Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons reverberates with centuries of music history, as fragments of the original Vivaldi echo in Richter’s modern compositional style. What makes this work so distinctive is Richter’s refusal to assimilate Vivaldi into his own practice. Instead, Richter invites Vivaldi’s work to stand next to his music-making process, noting how these disparate styles can coexist. Richter’s humble re-composition invites us to engage in the ever-changing currents of the classical tradition.

Now, the ascent. An introduction is unnecessary for Ralph Vaughan Williams’ masterpiece of the pastoral genre, The Lark Ascending. Underneath its simplicity lies a profound tragedy: completed in 1914 but not performed until 1920, Vaughan Williams’ evocation of the simple countryside can be contrasted with the sorrow of World War I. The structure is simple: the Lark is found in the twittering of the violin, complemented by the sounds of the landscape in the orchestra. As the Lark flies ever higher, its connection with the orchestra fades into nothingness. Finally, the highest point is reached. Then what? Vaughan Williams does not know; neither does the Lark.

Finally, we come to another type of homage. Around the early 20th century, neoclassicism began to emerge out of Late Romanticism as a reaction against the intense chromaticism and grand scale of the time. Neoclassicism was interested in clear harmonies, melodies, and phrasing. For Edvard Grieg, neoclassicism gave him an opening to celebrate the 200th anniversary of one of Norway’s most important cultural figures, the playwright Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754), through a reproduction of the musical traditions and styles that prevailed during his life. The Holberg Suite thus acts as a kind of historical time capsule. Unlike the music we’ve heard earlier in this concert, the Suite has no specific program. Instead, each movement reproduces the formal and rhythmic profiles of various dances, including the Rigaudon, the Sarabande, and the Gavotte. Works like these played an important role in the history of the classical tradition, and this renewed focus on “Early” music led to an explosion of performing ensembles focussed on Renaissance and Baroque repertoires as well as current historically informed practices. 

- Program notes written by Lukas Sawatsky