REVIEW: Yuriy Bekker at Classics Northwest

On Saturday, September 12, 2026, conductor and violinist Yuriy Bekker collaborated with Classics Northwest in their season opener, presenting varied repertoire to an enthusiastically welcoming crowd.

Larry Lapidus for The Spokesman-Review praised his solo performance highly:

...what we heard in both concerts did indeed sound good, beginning first with Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending” and Domonic Dousa’s delicate evocation of dawn in the English countryside, followed by a thin stream of rapturous tone from Yuri Bekker’s Guarneri violin, a stream that grew into an ecstatic flood that raised the blood pressure of everyone in the room. Every measure we heard from this artist was distinguished by beauty of tone, interpretive insight and acute sensitivity to the contributions of his colleagues. Listening to an artist of this calibre leaves one somehow feeling not only satisfied artistically, but morally elevated.

In addition to stunning solos, Yuriy Bekker's duets made even deeper impressions:

As moving as his solo performances were in the pieces by Vaughan Williams, Korngold and Copland, his collaborations with Bailey were in a way even more remarkable. In the Brahms “Double” concerto, he and Bailey matched each other’s tone and expression – a feat which Brahms plainly demands in the perfect symmetry of his composition – to a degree equaled to these ears only in the 1939 recording of the work by Jascha Heifetz and Emmanuel Feuermann. The combination of spontaneity, discipline and inspiration we heard in their rendition of the Mozart Duo was the sort of miracle for which music lovers always hope, but seldom experience.

Find the full review here.

For more on Yuriy Bekker, visit his SAI profile, personal website, Instagram, and the Charleston Symphony's website.