Boston Symphony Orchestra to perform US premiere of Chin Un-suk’s new violin concerto

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is set to perform the much anticipated US premiere of award-winning composer Chin Un-suk’s Violin Concerto No. 2 “Shards of Silence” at Boston’s Symphony Hall on Thursday.

Led by its music director and conductor Andris Nelsons, the BSO will perform “Shards of Silence” with violin soloist Leonidas Kavakos. Thursday’s program also includes US composer Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question” and French composer Hector Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique,” according to the BSO website.

Chin wrote “Shards of Silence” inspired by the performance of acclaimed Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos. “Shards of Silence,” completed in 2021, is the composer’s second violin concerto, following her Grawemeyer Award-winning first violin concerto released in 2001. The Simon Rattle-led London Symphony Orchestra and Kavakos performed the world premiere of the piece at Barbican Hall in London in January.

Following performances from Thursday to Saturday in Boston, the BSO will perform “Shards of Silence” at New York’s Carnegie Hall on March 14.

Chin, 60, is an internationally acclaimed composer and winner of multiple awards, including the 2004 Grawemeyer Award, the 2005 Arnold Schoenberg Prize, the 2010 Prince Pierre Foundation Music Award and the 2017 Wihuri Sibelius Prize.

In 2021, Chin became the first Asian to receive Denmark’s prestigious Leonie Sonning Music Prize and was also named as an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The contemporary classical music composer also started her five-year tenure as the artistic director of the Tongyeong International Music Foundation in South Korea this year.

By Lee Si-jin (sj_lee@heraldcorp.com)