St. John, Lara

St. John, Lara. Violinist, b 15 Apr 1971, London, Ont; Artist Diploma (New England Conservatory) 1997. Child prodigy Lara St. John began learning the Suzuki violin method at age two. She debuted with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra (with her brother, Scott St. John) at age four, playing Bach's Concerto for Two Violins; at five, she soloed with Orchestra London Canada. Her first teacher (1974-84) was Richard Lawrence. She later studied with Linda Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Arnold Steinhardt and Jascha Brodsky 1985-7 at the Curtis Institute of Music; at the Moscow Conservatory; with David Takeno 1990-1 at the Guildhall School in London, England, under a Chalmers grant; and with Felix Galimir 1994-6 at Mannes College, New York.

Keywords

Violinists

St. John was grand national champion in the Canadian Music Competitions (1980) and a national first-place winner five times 1978-84. She won fourth place in the Menuhin International Violin Competition (1985), was a semi-finalist in the Montreal International Music Competition (1987), and won a premier prix at the Concours Nerini in France. She made her European debut with Lisbon's Gulbenkian Orchestra in 1981, and toured Europe twice with Jeunesses Musicales. In 1993 she represented Canada at the European Cultural Forum in Budapest. The Canada Council awarded her its Sylva Gelber Prize in 1991 and the loan of a 1702 Lyall Stradivarius in 1997.

Performances and Recordings

Lara St. John has concentrated on a solo career, playing 70-100 engagements annually of the standard violin repertoire, gypsy music and 20th-century works, eg, by John Corigliano and Leonard Bernstein. In Canada, she has performed with the Edmonton, Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Vancouver and Windsor symphony orchestras, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic, Symphony Nova Scotia, the McGill Chamber Orchestra, and orchestras in smaller centres. She has toured the US, Europe and China as recitalist and soloist, and has performed in Sao Paulo, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. Since 2002, she has also toured and recorded with the popular show Bowfire. Her instrument is a 1779 Guadagnini violin.

St. John's stated aim is to reverse classical music's elitist stereotype and make her art form accessible to a younger demographic. Her iconoclastic image has led to recording successes: Her first CD, Bach Works for Violin Solo, sold over 30,000 copies (a rare achievement that eclipsed even Yo-Yo Ma) and received acclaim for its musicality, although it generated controversy over the seemingly nude cover photograph. The marketing tactic - combined with her reputation for rhapsodic, on-the-edge performances - gave rise to comparisons with both English violinist Nigel Kennedy and pop diva Madonna. St. John's later Bach: The Concerto Album became the best-selling classical album to that date, and reached number one on the iTunes website. The cross-genre recording Re: Bach reached Billboard's top 15.

Recognition and Tributes

Lara St. John has been featured on Bravo! Television (2002) and CBC Radio (1998), and named a "star of the next decade" by Strad and "young artist to watch" by Musical America. Her performances are known for their innovative, passionate interpretations. Richard Perry, writing in the Ottawa Citizen 15 March 1998 about J.S. Bach: Works for Violin Solo, noted: "Not one perfunctory moment dulls the febrility of the performance . . . . Her intonation is excellent, her double-stopping is expressive rather than just adroit, and the colouring given to phrases rings with credible, dramatic life."

Writings
St. John, Lara. "Lara St. John on intonation," La Scena Musicale, 1 Apr 2000

Author Betty Nygaard King

Discography

Bach Works for Violin Solo. 1996. Well-Tempered Productions 5180

Gypsy. 1997. Well-Tempered Productions 5185

Bach: The Concerto Album. 2001. Lara and Scott St. John, violins. Ancalagon AR131

Re: Bach. 2003. Sony Classical SK89973

Bibliography

"Bare Bach: Unclad violinist Lara St. John has some critics coming unstrung," People Weekly, 24 Feb 1997

Perry, Richard. "Fiddling with passion: Lara St. John's playing lives up to her come-hither image," Ottawa Citizen, 15 March 1998

Steinberg, Shawna. "Lara's themes," Chatelaine, June 1999

Eatock, Colin. "In person: Same story, different tune: Brother and sister violinists Scott and Lara St. John," Globe and Mail, 9 Oct 1999

Cooper, Seth. "Lara St. John's passion," La Scena Musicale, Apr 2000

Hampson, Sarah. "Lara St. John: Wild child with a violin," Globe and Mail, 10 Aug 2002

Midgette, Anne. "The curse of beauty for serious musicians," New York Times, 27 May 2004

"A new breed of string," International Musician, Nov 2004

Links to Other Sites

Bowfire
Listen to a radio interview about Bowfire, a Canadian group performing an eclectic mix of jazz, classical, bluegrass, Celtic, rock, Gypsy, Ottawa Valley, and Cape Breton musical styles. From National Public Radio in the US.

Marquis Classics: Bowfire
This site features a profile, discography, and music clips of this eclectic musical group. From Marquis Classics.

Canada Council: Lara St. John
An announcement that Lara St. John and Judy Kang have won the competition for the loan of two Stradivarius violins from the Canada Council for the Arts' Musical Instrument Bank. Includes brief bios of the artists.

Musical Instrument Bank
News and information about the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. Includes downloadable images of the instruments and comments by Canadian musicians participating in the program.

Lara St. John on Intonation
An online article by Lara St. John on the topic of “Intonation” in the “La Scena Musicale” magazine.

A New Breed of String
This article profiles Lara St. John’s professional career and offers her reflections about her own style of performing. From the “International Musician” magazine, an American Federation of Musicians publication.

Bowed and Plucked Stringed Instruments
Scroll down the page and click on the “Violin pattern attributed to a Cremonese workshop, 17th century” link for images of a historic violin pattern attributed to Antonio Stradivari. Also includes brief notes about violin makers Salabue and Guadagnini. From the National Music Museum in the US.