CLARA-JUMI KANG / SUNWOOK KIM

On Sunday March 5th, South Korean violinist Clara-Jumi Kang comes to Dubai Opera as part of the 2023 InClassica International Music Festival. Playing alongside South Korean pianist Sunwook Kim, the duo start the evening with Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 1, which was released in 1798. Being an early work, the sonata is for the most part written in a classical style and, as is the case with all of Beethoven’s sonatas, keeps both instrumental parts on an equal musical footing throughout, in spite of the common designation of these pieces as “violin sonatas”. The programme then moves to Respighi’s 1917 Violin Sonata in B minor, an intriguing piece which gained notoriety for its difficulty, being especially renowned for its virtuosic demands and complex tonal and rhythm systems, with occasional varying time signatures for the two instruments. Following the intermission, the duo turn to Composer-in-Residence Alexey Shor’s Violin Sonata No. 1, an evocative work in three movements characterised by a focus on tonal elegance intermixed with intricate, technically demanding passages. Finally, the pair will perform Franck’s Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano, one of the composer’s best-known works, often considered as a defining example of the genre. The sonata displays Franck’s extensive harmonic depth, and was written in 1886 in dedication to Belgian violinist, Eugène Ysaÿe.