VC Artist Timothy Chooi and pianist Ieva Jokūbavičiūtė performed Saint-Saëns' Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 75, in a recital hosted by the Seattle Chamber Music Society's 2025 Winter Festival.

Saint-Saëns composed his Op. 75 sonata for violin and piano in 1885, after having already completed his three violin concerti. The sonata shares many organizational elements with Saint-Saëns' famed Symphony No. 3 in C Minor "Organ," Op. 78--specifically, a four-movement structure consisting of two paired movements and a cyclical structure with all four movements tied together by recurring themes.

Saint-Saëns dedicated the sonata to Belgian violinist Martin Pierre Marsick in commemoration of their joint concert tour of Switzerland. Marsick and Saint-Saëns premiered the sonata together in 1886.

Listen to Chooi and Jokūbavičiūtė's performance below:

 

Canadian violinist Timothy Chooi has been a top prizewinner in competitions including the Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition, the Michael Hill International Violin Competition Major Prize, and the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition. His current touring season includes appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. A former student of teachers such as Ida Kavafian, Catherine Cho, Pamela Frank, and Christian Tetzlaff, Chooi is currently a professor of violin and Head of Strings at the University of Ottawa. 

Pianist Ieva Jokūbavičiūtė made her solo debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and she has since performed concerti with orchestras in Brazil, Uruguay, and the United States. As a member of the Trio Cavatina, Jokūbavičiūtė won the 2009 Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition and made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2010. She has also appeared as a chamber musician at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Bard, Caramoor, Chesapeake, Four Seasons, and Prussia Cove chamber music festivals. Jokūbavičiūtė is on the faculty at Duke University.