THE controversial ‘Naked Violinist’ is promising something “flashy and fiery” for this year’s North Wales Inter-national Music Festival.
International virtuoso Tasmin Little, who campaigns to take the sound of the violin to a wider public, said she is looking forward to playing for the first time at the St Asaph event next month.
“Welsh audiences are innately musical people,” she said as she prepared for her concert at St Asaph Cathedral on September 23.
The 45-year-old, who has performed all over the world with most of the great orchestras, is no stranger to North Wales, having given concerts at Bangor, Llandudno, Wrexham, and Rhyl, but never before at St Asaph Cathedral.
“I understand it’s absolutely gorgeous and that the acoustics are something special,” said Tasmin, who is performing with long-time musical friend pianist John Lenehan.
Born in London, she started playing violin at the age of seven and continued her studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Guildhall School of Music.
Two years ago Tasmin created shockwaves in the world of classical music with her pioneering project ‘The Naked Violin’.
The repercussions were enormous. She wanted to tackle the prejudice of people who believed they would ‘hate’ solo violin, yet had never taken the time to listen to it.
She recorded a new CD and it made available for free download from her website where it received 250,000 hits and she was the subject of a South Bank show on TV.
“It’s something I feel very strongly about, to open as many doors as possible.
"On a global level the success of the project took me by surprise, it was overwhelming,” she said.
The violinist said music festivals like the St Asaph event “have to be preserved and for many people they are the highlight of their year”.
“There is such marvellous music around, especially in Wales and it is just as important as any other kind of community work,” she said.
Tasmin promises a St Asaph programme of really great music, starting with Tartini’s Devil’s Trill sonata which she describes as a “very flashy” piece followed by something completely different with the beautiful melodies in Schubert’s Fantasy in C Major.
She and John will end with a piece of their own, a creation from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake they call Tchaikovskyana, which she described as fiery and flashy.
For full details of the NWIMF programme and to book tickets, visit www.northwalesmusicfestival.co.uk or ring 01745 584508.