A new live recording of Mendelssohn's lesser-known Concerto for Violin and Strings has recently been released. It features VC Artist Julian Rhee as soloist and director, alongside the European Orchestra Academy, recorded in the Casals Forum at the Kronberg Academy in April of 2025.

Noted for his prodigious early output, Mendelssohn wrote the D-minor concerto when he was just thirteen years old for his friend and teacher Eduard Rietz — who was later to serve as concertmaster in Mendelssohn's famous revival of Bach's St Matthew Passion.

After Mendelssohn's death, the concerto drifted into obscurity until it was revived by Yehudi Menuhin, who was shown the manuscript in 1951 by the rare books dealer Albi Rosenthal. Menuhin produced and edited a modern publication of the work, which was published by Peters Edition, and gave the modern premiere in Carnegie Hall in 1952.

Korean-American violinist Julian Rhee was the winner of the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant and received widespread public acclaim following his prize-winning performances at the 2024 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition. He also won the Silver Medal at the 11th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.

Rhee has been recognized with a number of accolades, including the Aspen Festival's Dorothy DeLay Fellowship, the Arkady Fomin Scholarship Fund, and the Manfred Grommek Prize from the Kronberg Academy. He was also a US Presidential Scholar, receiving his medal at the White House.

You can hear the recording in full below. Rhee also performs the first movement of Ysaÿe's Sonata no. 2, "Obsession," as an encore.