It has been extremely refreshing for me to make some time out of my schedule to go watch live concerts of new generation artists that inevitably shape the future. Too often do I live in the bubble that stops in 1960, where Zukerman and Perlman are a young novelty. Reason being that it is hard to discern and find artists that say something meaningful -- oh they say plenty most of the time, but where is the depth?
A few months ago I went to Carnegie's Weill to watch Sayaka Shoji who is only four years my senior. She presented a wonderful recital program that had the obvious Beethoven and Schubert sonata, but featured as well an Ernest Bloch sonata and a sonata written for her by Avner Dorman -- which for me completely took the cake that night. It was thoughtful playing throughout, and paired with fresh programming (that was serious yet solidly entertaining) it made for a great experience.
Shoji shows that you don't need a dose full of flash to string together a coherent recital, and what flash is used adds to the overall experience.
Here she is playing a Shostakovich Prelude:
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