By Eileen Wingard in San Diego
I was thrilled last year, to receive my sister, Zina Schiff’s CD, Alan Hovhaness, one of Naxos’ American Classics series, which she dedicated to me for having encouraged her to perform the music of American composers. But it was the great conductor Andre Kostelanetz who urged Zina to learn and record Hovhaness’ Violin Concerto #2 when she played Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole with him and the Rochester Philharmonic in upstate New York when she was beginning her career.
I recall telling Maestro Kostelanetz about my talented young sister when he conducted a San Diego Symphony Summer Pops concert at the SDSU playing field. When he agreed to listen to her, Zina was transported to his trailer in a golf cart. That audition resulted in the Lalo performance. The Rochester Times-Union reported on that concert: Contributing significantly to the evening’s rewards was Zina Schiff, a young (22) violinist who seemed in Seventh Heaven when bowing her instrument. Miss Schiff treated the Lalo as though it held no problems. …The immense crowd cheered her to the rafters.”
From the time Conductor Kostelanetz suggested Zina learn the Hovhaness Concerto and the release of this CD, she recorded 16 other CDs, all gaining critical praise. This Alan Hovhaness CD is also receiving a great deal of media acclaim.
An August, 2, 2025 interview in The Strad Magazine, “Zina Schiff: my lifelong journey to record the violin works of Hovhaness,” relates the long trajectory of Zina’s connection with Hovhaness, and how finally, with her daughter, Avlana Eisenberg on the podium and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists accompanying, the Hovhaness Concerto #2 and Oror (Lullaby) were recorded. Zina also relates how Mrs. Hovhaness helped find additional repertoire to complete this All-Hovhaness album.
The September-October 2025 issue of Strings Magazine, in its article, “Will America s Mid-Century Concertos finally Get Their Due?” by Brian Wise, writes about the new recording and quotes Zina:
“The music of Alan Hovhaness, including his Violin Concerto No. 2, is the focus of a new recording by the Boston violinist Zina Schiff. The Massachusetts-born Hovhaness was a true maverick, exploring his Armenian heritage while picking up Eastern and Southern Asian influences and aleatoric techniques. The seven-movement concerto includes raga-like melismas, unmeasured passages, and odd-numbered patterns.”
“’It’s something that really appealed to me because it’s very improvisatory,’” says Schiff. “’He doesn’t put very many road signs in terms of dynamics or even some tempi. So, there’s a lot left to the artist to use their imagination. It’s very refreshing, but it is a challenge. And he has these passages that are sort of ‘do your own thing.’ To program this, you must have somebody who’s willing to take that risk.’”
Schiff notes how Hovhaness’ fortunes fluctuated over his lengthy career (he died in 2000). After his outsider works took knocks from Copland and Bernstein, he was later championed by conductors Andre Kostelanetz and Gerard Schwarz. “He was on the periphery, and he wasn’t fashionable in any sense, because he was so eclectic. At that time, if you were going to program a modern piece, it had better be dissonant and squirmy for people rather than interesting,” she said.
In the Music Web International Sept. 3, 2025 review, Paul Jackson writes about the Concerto: This really is an exceptionally fine and satisfying work which hangs together as a cogent whole. The soloist sounds like the first among equals, sometimes rising out of the orchestra and at others very much part of the textures. The Salzburg Chamber Soloists are effectively conducted by Ms. Schiff’s daughter Avlana Eisenberg, who gets to the emotional heart of the work.
After detailed descriptions of each piece on the CD, he concludes: All the performers are to be commended on this ear-opening disc, particularly violinist Zina Schiff, who led on the project. Her ability to shape the simplest of material and bring to the surface underlying emotional and spiritual intention is inspiring.
In Fanfare, January 2026, Dominic Hartley writes:
“Hovhaness deploys a broadly modal framework and within that, a number of technical devices to striking effect for differentiation…Zina Schiff navigates all of these technical challenges as if they were the most natural thing in the world, and indeed her performance has an organic, often conversational quality to it. She receives sensitive and responsive support from the Salzburg Chamber Soloists and Avlana Eisenberg.”
In The Ultimate Classical Music Guide by Dave Hurwitz Nov 4, 2025 Review: “Zina Schiff’s Tantalizing Hovhaness Second Violin Concerto,” Hurwitz comments: “She plays it with the simplicity and honesty it deserves.”
The Hovhaness Violin Concerto #2 and his other music should be performed more frequently, especially during this year celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. And there could be no better interpreter of his violin music than Zina Schiff.
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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.