Violinist Vilde Frang cherishes her many varied connections to Chicago

The first time that Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang performed in Chicago was in 2008 as a soloist with the European Union Youth Orchestra. “I recall it vividly because it was during the Obama presidential campaign, and I was playing on a violin loaned to me via Anne-Sophie Mutter,” she said by phone between European engagements. “It was an incredible experience for me.”

Four years later, Frang would win the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award by the judges’ unanimous acclamation, and she has been on the major international circuit ever since. She will make her Chicago Symphony debut, playing the Stravinsky Violin Concerto, in concerts Nov. 21-23. The program, conducted by Hannu Lintu, also features a suite from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet.

“I haven’t performed with the Chicago Symphony before, but I know the orchestra extremely well,” Frang said. “The Barenboim recordings, for example. I wore those recordings out. I was living in those recordings. It was my oxygen growing up.”

Earlier this month, Frang joined Klaus Mäkelä, CSO music director designate, for a concert in Oslo featuring Frang in the same Stravinsky Concerto that she will bring to Chicago.

Born into a family of musicians — her mother and father both are double-bass players — Frang, now 38, began learning the violin through the Suzuki method. At age 11, she first played for fellow violinist Mutter, who would become her mentor.

Frang launched her career with Mariss Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic. He became chief conductor of the Norwegian orchestra at age 22; she first performed as a soloist there at age 12.

The CSO concerts with Lintu will make the Stravinsky new in another way, Frang said: “You always encounter this with different orchestras and different conductors — you pick up on a different vibe, and different styles of playing, and you add these to your musical archive in a way. And the Stravinsky Concerto is a hilarious concerto! I love it!

“To perform it is almost like being part of a circus, having all these unique animals in the zoo, the gorilla, the snake and the butterfly collection. It is such a colorful piece, and full of contrasts, with all these individual creatures in the orchestra having their own little dialogues with the solo violin.

“To perform the Stravinsky Violin Concerto is almost like being part of a circus, having all these unique animals in the zoo, the gorilla, the snake and the butterfly collection. It is such a colorful piece, and full of contrasts." — Vilde Frang

It actually becomes one of those pieces where the soloist really gets to know many individuals in the orchestra, because each is having his or her moment with you as the violinist. And the piece is just so fresh. It’s almost like your first sip from a glass of lemon juice, almost a little bit sour, but definitely it wakes you up!"

Frang is delighted with the concerto’s sense of humor: “I think a person who knows the Petrushka ballet would understand what I mean: For me, it becomes really that feeling that you are also part of this circus, as both the harlequin and also the director of ceremonies, the one with the whip and the top hat who says, ‘ladies and gentlemen!’

"There are really so many terrific miniature sketches. The second movement is more like the Ballets Russes, a big acrobatic number that makes you imagine you are at the ballet barre, doing your leaps and gymnastics. And the third movement is completely outstanding, a very sharp contrast to the other movements. It shows a side so raw, and so incredibly painful, and yet so pure entirely, with all the surprises of a Greek tragedy.

“There is also something about the symmetry in this piece — the strict, clean symmetry in the moment — that is difficult to talk about without just rambling,“ she said. ”But it has this certain detachment, and this certain richness, and yet it is still so raw at the core that it is hard to imagine a person actually composing it if they did not know real pain.”

Moving from orchestra to orchestra on the solo circuit, Frang believes, is a never-ending test of adaptability. "You don’t necessarily have to be on the same frequency or even have the same taste,“ she said. ”It can be an interesting contrast. It’s a nice thing that I can continue to be surprised and stimulated by new impressions. Trust is really the key word.”