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From the Denver Post
July 27, 2010

Stand-in violinist Augustin Hadelich makes big splash at Vail festival

While not unusual, it's always exciting when a lesser-known artist catapults into the spotlight as a last-minute replacement for a scheduled soloist.

That was the case here on Saturday when violinist Augustin Hadelich stepped in for Nikolaj Znaider after the more established violinist canceled his appearance due to illness.

The cancellation brought Hadelich his debut with the New York Philharmonic on the opening weekend of the venerable orchestra's eighth annual summer residency at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. With Alan Gilbert conducting, Hadelich turned in a brilliant performance of Felix Mendelssohn's beloved Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64.

Headlining the "German Masters" program, the 26-year-old - born in Italy to German parents - wowed the capacity audience at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater with his self-assured, technically fluent and musically sensitive approach. And when he breezily performed Niccolò Paganini's Caprice No. 17 as an encore, he easily confirmed his place on the shortlist of today's top violin virtuosos - all the more meaningful given that a decade ago, after he survived a fire that burned 75 percent of his body, doctors told him he would never play again.

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