Violinist Bella Hristova makes local debut with Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra

Acclaimed violinist Bella Hristova makes her Hawaii debut this week, playing Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto.

It only seems appropriate, since she is a graduate of the esteemed Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Barber, whose Adagio for Strings has made him one of the most beloved of American composers, was a child prodigy in Curtis’s inaugural graduating class.

“Definitely, I feel a connection to it, having been at Curtis,” Hristova said in a phone call from her home in Philadelphia. “I learned it after I left Curtis, but I was studying with (acclaimed violinist) Jaime Laredo at the time, and he’d played it for Barber. … He had many, many things to say about it from their time together. He would say, ‘Sam said you could do this here instead of what he wrote,’ or, ‘he didn’t want this to go too fast.’ It’s sad he didn’t make an edition of it, so his comments are just kind of passed down.

Barber’s concerto was commissioned for a fellow Curtis graduate, Iso Briselli, but Briselli would never play the piece in performance. Legend has it that Briselli found its third movement, labeled “Presto in perpetual motion,” too difficult to play, although recent research has indicated that he and his mentor simply didn’t like it very much. At any rate, Barber’s concerto has gone on to become a staple of the violin repertoire, with that notorious third movement providing an exhilarating conclusion.

“It’s just kind of a race to the end, but that’s one of the things Barber didn’t want to be super, super fast,” Hristova said. “There’s a lot that happens between the orchestra and the soloist, so it’s actually good to hear all of that.”

Her connection to the concerto is also enhanced through the instrument she performs on: a violin made in 1655 by Nicolo Amati, who along with Stradivari and Guarneri, is considered to have made the finest string instruments in history. The instrument is on loan to Hristova, who has been playing it for many years.

“It’s really a part of my voice,” she said. “It has a very deep voice. It has a lot of power, and I’ve heard that is unusual for an Amati. It has a very deep G string, and in the Barber concerto actually there’s a beautiful melody that I get to play in the second movement that’s on the G-string, so it will be nicely highlighted.

“Of course, it’s also temperamental when I take it from different climate to a different climate. It always takes a couple days to adjust, so we’ll see how it’s behaving.”

HRISTOVA WAS born in Bulgaria and started violin lessons at age 6 with a Russian-trained teacher. A key moment for her was getting a few lessons with legendary violinist Ruggiero Ricci. “I remember he changed the way I held the bow, something about the wrist,” she said. “Obviously I was doing something he thought I shouldn’t have been doing.”

The tip apparently paid off. Hristova is considered to have a particularly rich sound, described as “immaculate” by both The New York Times and The Washington Post. “A real feature is fantastic bow-to-string contact; it is always said that great players are truly defined by their bow control, not their left hand dexterity,” MusicWeb International said in a review of her debut CD “Bella Unaccompanied,” a 2013 album of well-known but particularly challenging solo works.

“I do feel like the sound is produced in the bow arm, so it’s something I focus on in my practice, just seeing how I can draw out the sound, the most beautiful sound, without using too much force,” Hristova said. “It’s such a fine balance between all these things you’re trying to do.”

She came to the U.S. at age 13 and studied with two of America’s most eminent violin teachers, Ida Kavafian and Laredo. She’s gone on to compile an impressive list of accomplishments, receiving an Avery Fisher Career Grant and winning first prize in the New York-based Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 2009.

She won the 2007 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand, which has led to a longtime affection for the island nation. She’s performed there six times, including a recent tour playing Beethoven violin sonatas that she recorded for an album due in January. “It’s a big responsibility to do the music justice,” she said. “Beethoven is my favorite composer.”

Having such strong affection for New Zealand has given her one tidbit of information about Hawaii beyond what the typical tourist might know. “I heard that maybe 30 years ago, before the long-range jets, all the New Zealanders had been to the Honolulu airport to refuel on their way to the mainland or wherever else,” she said.

This weekend’s concert also features Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3, a pastoral work that highlights Russian dances and themes. HSO Artistic Director JoAnn Falletta returns to conduct the first of three programs that she will lead this season.