“Everything a concert-goer could ask for”: Feng makes stellar debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Feng returned to the UK in January to make his debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, performing Bruch Scottish Fantasy and Brahms Violin Concerto under the baton of the orchestra’s Music Director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. Feng’s performances were greeted with great acclaim from the UK press:

“The remarkable soloist Ning Feng, his tone so sweet and pure, believed in every note, and as a result so did we … like a skater turning exquisite pirouettes on the thinnest ice, Feng etched out the music’s shivering tremolos and fragile melody with immaculate intonation and bow control.”
The Times, January 2018

“Blessed with an impeccable left-hand technique and silken tone, [Ning] transformed this interminably windy work [Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy] … into an almost exhilarating breeze … For a piece on my “never again” list, that’s some tribute.”
The Observer, January 2018

“Ning Feng … proved to be everything a concert-goer could ask for in terms of style, virtuosity and the charisma and personality which set apart the few from the many … Brahms’ Violin Concerto … moves from the tranquil to the polar opposite and, while asking a great deal, also allows a soloist room to put his stamp on the work. Ning, full of energy and commitment, relished all these challenges.”
Chronicle Live, January 2018

“The last piece before the interval was perhaps the evening’s highlight. Featuring soloist Ning Feng on violin, Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy was romantic, elegiac and performed with such virtuosity and beauty that it swept by in its swell of strings and rush of emotions … one of the most memorable that I have experienced in the three seasons that I have been coming to the Classical Concert Series.”
Cambridge Independent, January 2018

“Gražinytė-Tyla and Feng handled the frequent mood changes very deftly, slipping smoothly from raw power in the solo line and driving passion from the orchestra into moments of intimacy, Feng drawing us in with some extraordinary quiet playing. The cadenza was particularly beautiful; Feng was delicate and precise, and I felt as if I were listening to a Bach partita rather than a big, Romantic concerto”
Bachtrack, January 2018

Feng’s next visit to the UK comes in March, when he performs Bernstein’s Serenade with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under the baton of John Wilson. Prior to that concert, he joins the Calgary Philharmonic for two performances of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on 2 and 3 March.