Released on Benu Fleuve Records label, "A Hero's Life" includes the world-premiere recording of Behzad Ranjbaran’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra paired with Richard Strauss’s tone poem Ein Heldenleben,

VC Artist Nikki Chooi is featured as a soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor JoAnn Falletta.

Recorded live at Kleinhans Music Hall in the spring of 2025, the album's selection of repertoire highlights the ancient Persian colors that characterize Ranjbaran’s concerto alongside the sweeping programmatic narrative of Strauss’s heroic orchestral work.

"This album represents a deeply personal journey for me, bridging ancient musical traditions and late-Romantic grandeur through the voice of the violin," Chooi says. "Bringing Behzad Ranjbaran's concerto to life in its world-premiere recording, alongside Strauss's Ein Heldenleben, with JoAnn Falletta and my colleagues in the Buffalo Philharmonic, has been an experience I will always cherish."

Purchase the album here.

 

VC Artist Nikki Chooi has been a recipient of prizes at the Queen Elisabeth and Tchaikovsky Competitions, and he was awarded 1st Prize Winner of the Montreal Symphony's ManuLife Competition, the Klein International Strings Competition, and the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Currently the concertmaster of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, Chooi has also appeared as guest concertmaster of ensembles including the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Met Opera Orchestra. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, Chooi's teachers included Joseph Silverstein, Ida Kavafian, and Donald Weilerstein.