The reviews are in:

The Arts Fuse: Concert Review: The Boston Philharmonic Performs Ravel, Berg, and Mahler

"Playing with rich tone and bracing focus, Ferschtman dispatched the solo part with blistering intensity. The first movement’s lyrical, dancing figurations were all well directed, while the finale’s violent opening pages seethed. Meantime, its culminating, mellifluous episodes soared....Throughout, the violinist displayed a remarkable capacity to project her instrument through and above the orchestra. True, Zander led an accompaniment that was, on the whole, lucid and well-balanced. Even so, Ferschtman’s ability to achieve maximum volume without once forcing her sound or corrupting the beauty of her tone production (both in the Berg and in her encore of Eugene Ysaÿe’s “Sunrise”) was exceptional...The Philharmonic was Ferschtman’s equal partner for much of the reading..." -Jonathan Blumhofer. Read the full review here. 

Boston Musical Intelligencer: Zander & BPO Realize Composers’ Visions

"Liza’s violin sang with clarity and sweetness...Prompted for an encore, Liza selected the first movement, Sunrise / l’Aurore, from Ysaÿe’s Sonata for solo violin no. 5 in G Major, op. 27, to add a note of hope on the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine." -Dinah Bodkin. Read the full review here.

The Boston Classical Review: Boston Philharmonic goes from grief to triumph at Symphony Hall

"Ferschtman meditated on the twinned themes of grief and hope in her encore, which she prefaced by noting the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine. Her performance Ysaÿe’s Sonata for solo violin, Sunrise/L’Aurore embodied, with its cyclical arpeggiation, the hope that comes from persistence. The encore was the perfect combination of Ravel and Berg, linking the abstract and affective in a moving conclusion...The BPO’s performance here was superb. Mahler’s First is a Zander specialty, which was fully obvious in Saturday night’s performance. The orchestra, too, was at the height of its powers here. If the ensemble held back its might in the Ravel, the Mahler was a stunning testament to the ensemble’s force. "-Katherine Horgan. Read the full review here. 

Photos by Hilary Scott