NEW TO YOUTUBE | VC Young Artist Kevin Zhu Performs on Paganini's "il Cannone" Violin [WATCH NOW]

20-year-old VC Young Artist Kevin Zhu performs a recital at the 2021 Paganini Genova Festival on the 1743 "il Cannone" Guarneri del Gesù violin — once owned and performed on by Niccolò Paganini himself

“It was like playing on a piece of history”, said Kevin, who won the first prize at the 2018 Paganini International Violin Competition, while still in high school, aged just 17.

“What a stunning, inexplicable, beautiful force, pulsing with energy and imbued with history. Each string resonated with its own personality, giving breath and inspiration, offering vital clues into why Paganini composed the way he did.” 

“It was like playing on a piece of history,” VC Young Artist Kevin Zhu said this week after performing a solo recital at the Palazzo Tursi on Niccolò Paganini's 1743 "il Cannone" Guarneri del Gesù violin

The program, recorded on October 27 at the Palazzo Tursi, in Genoa, Italy includes a selection of Paganini's Solo bravura works and Caprices including “Nel cor più non mi sento,” “Variations on God Save the King,” and Paganini’s Solo Sonata in A Major.