In Lavuta, Lara St. John combined her knowledge of melodies with composers she knew and respected, and the project was born. It includes songs from Armenia, Palestine, the Jewish Diaspora, Russia, Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, Romania and Hungary.

Canadian-born violinist Lara St. John has been described as “something of a phenomenon” by The Strad and a “high-powered soloist” by The New York Times. St. John will perform Lavuta, a program of music from Eastern Europe she has collected through the years. She met the exceptional Curtis Institute of Music-trained classical and jazz pianist Matt Herskowitz several years ago, and he proved a catalyst to her idea that this significant collection of melodies was worth reimagining for the concert stage. Some are fully written, some are partly improvised, and the amount of technical prowess, soul and excitement is dazzling.