The slow movement was particularly striking, as Waarts sang the contemplative characteristics in a mature way that brought to mind a young Yehudi Menuhin.
Aamulehti
Critical Acclaim
“From the first note of Stephen Waarts’ Brahms G Major Sonata I was hooked, and within a few bars I was moved to tears.”
The Strad
Stephen Waarts’s innate and individual musical voice is establishing him as a firm favourite with audiences in North America and Europe. His prize-winning success at the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition – including securing the majority vote of the television audience – boosted international attention. In March 2017 he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Following his debut at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 2017, Stephen has been awarded the 2017 soloist prize which will be presented in September 2018.
With a voracious appetite for repertoire, Stephen has already performed over thirty standard, as well as rarely performed, violin concertos and is a passionate chamber musician.
Stephen Waarts gave an outstanding debut at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. In a fine program of Beethoven, Bartok, Ravel and Waxman. . .
The Washington PostCritical Acclaim
The slow movement was particularly striking, as Waarts sang the contemplative characteristics in a mature way that brought to mind a young Yehudi Menuhin.
The music’s expressive power was always controlled and his beautiful tone enriched everynote.
Mr. Waarts was commanding in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor… Mr. Waarts tapped into tensions within the Neo-Classical veneer of Prokofiev’s music. That opening movement goes through dramatic shifts, from moments of dreamy lyricism, which Mr. Waarts shaped with melting beauty, to bursts of perpetual-motion busyness, which he dispatched with articulate fervor.