April 25, 2022, 6:13 p.m. · If you haven’t heard of Franco-Serbian violinist Nemanja Radulovic yet, it’s not because he’s unknown to the world of classical music. Born in Serbia in 1985 and now a French citizen, Radulovic has performed as a soloist with dozens of orchestras across Europe, Asia and Australia. He has made numerous recordings, including seven for Deutsche Grammophon. (This one is particularly cool – he not only plays Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, but also the famous Rococo Variations, on the viola!)

But somehow Radulovic rarely performed in the United States. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to see his symphonic debut in the United States on Saturday, attending the first of two performances of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jaime Martín.

Violinist Nemanja Radulovic performs with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jaime Martín.

Just walking onto the stage Radulovic appeared larger than life: big hair, bell bottoms and big black platforms – and taller than the conductor, even with the conductor on the podium ! He had a friendly, attention-grabbing stage presence – smiling, swaying, and embodying the music whether he was performing or not.

The Tchaikovsky is certainly one of the most performed violin concertos in the repertoire, but Radulovic did not slip into those worn rhythms that the violinists created in this piece, whose 150 years of performance practice have set the standards. . Honestly, a lot of these standards don’t make much sense to the written page, and here’s a reminder that a little well-placed spontaneity can bring out the charm in this room, and there are other ways to do it meaning in this music.

When the music called for audacity, Radulovic played hard; but he could also hold the moment, even seeming to stop time. Sometimes he pushed things quite far: a slowdown turned into a complete stop, then came back to life. A silent passage would be so quiet it was almost inaudible. But everything served the music and the moment.

Radulovic had a great partner in the attentive musicians of LACO and their equally dynamic leader, Martín. In fact, with two such strong and demonstrative personalities on stage, Martín and Radulovic often seemed to literally dance with each other!

Radulovic’s performance earned him several standing ovations – one after the first movement, then another at the end of the piece.

For an encore, Radulovic played the “Sarabande” from Partita No. 2 in D minor by JS Bach – a clear and lucid interpretation, with beautiful chords and a haunting final note.

After much applause, he played another encore – obviously pre-planned, as the orchestra got up and played with him! The audience laughed happily and applauded the ultra-fast traditional Serbian dance, Pasona kolo, arranged by Yvan Cassar, from his album Journey East.

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