As a young budding violinist, Karen Gomyo stumbled across a 1989 recording of Dvořák’s Violin Concerto performed by the 18-year-old virtuoso Midori Gotō.

“Her passionate and personal approach to anything she played always convinced me that music was the most wonderful thing I’d heard,” recalls Gomyo.

The Dvořák quickly became a favourite for the Tokyo-born Canadian violinist. At age 11, she gave her debut performance of the work in her first student recital at the Juilliard Pre-College, where she studied with the legendary Dorothy DeLay. 

Now, 30 years later, Australian audiences finally get the chance to hear the concerto that has a “special place” in Gomyo’s heart: she’s set to perform the concerto with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (31 August), the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, (5–7 September) and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (14–15 September) across an Australian tour.

Karen Gomyo

Karen Gomyo. Photo supplied

Commissioned by the celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim, Dvořák wrote the concerto between 1879 and 1880. However, the draft sat at Joachim’s door for a full two years until it was revised, pushing the premiere to 1883.

By then, Joachim was reluctant...