Photo: Tom Fox - The Dallas Morning News
Lee delivers solid performance; Teenager's play could compete with any top violinist on this night
“Lee made her mark from the outset. She glided through the quiet opening solo with an expressiveness and silvery tone that lent it a power unrelated to loudness. But when the time came for force, her vigor and hefty tone delivered. For all the richness she put into the slow movement's melodies, Lee added fire to make their climaxes compelling. As the movement neared its conclusion, she gave it a softness that suggested that the music's conflicts were finally spent. Then she dispatched the finale with an exuberant security and drive.” The Charlotte Observer
Violinist steals OPAS performance
“...she's mature beyond her years and plays the violin with the kind of security that some professionals might envy.
The centerpiece of the MSC OPAS program was Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto, Opus 14. This is not kid stuff, but Shannon surmounted its difficulties to give a self-confident performance notable for its lyric beauty. The obvious fireworks occurred in the quick final movement, whose perpetual motion gives the soloist quite a workout. At the conclusion, Shannon remained utterly unruffled.” The Eagle
Plano prodigy remarkable in solo with DSO
“The Dallas Symphony Orchestra opened its Casual Classics series on Thursday night with an amazing new talent and a new audience strikingly different from the old.
The new talent was violinist, Shannon Lee. She's 12 years old, yet when the tiny slip of a girl walked onto the stage of the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, she seemed even younger. But when she started to play, her maturity and skill suddenly placed her artistic age far beyond her calendar one.
Conductor Andrew Litton had alerted the audience before she walked out. “She's no kid,” he said. And her performances of Chausson's Poème and Waxman's Carmen Fantasy with Mr. Litton and the orchestra proved him right. The most lyrical Poème was lovingly done, and the Carmen Fantasy gave her a chance to combine some more showy violin work with Bizet's gracious melodies. This she did with skill and great aplomb.” The Dallas Morning News
In intimate setting, teen violinist wows connoisseurs
“In a few minutes, they'll move into the living room for a recital by a 15-year-old violinist who will absolutely blow them away.”
“The first featured soloist is Shannon Lee, a Canadian-born violinist who made her debut with the Dallas Symphony when she was 12. She is announced, enters and tunes up. Then she and pianist Barbara Riske break into Vitali's Chaconne in G minor with enough power and grace to knock the crowd's socks off. It isn't until the end of the piece that you hear the audience exhale. They applaud generously. Bach's lengthy and raw Partita No. 2 in D minor comes next, then Kreisler's dizzyingly delightful "Tambourin Chinois." By the end of Bazzini's "The Round of the Goblins," the audience is leaping from their chairs to bring her back for an encore. She plays three more pieces: Prokofiev's March from "The Love for Three Oranges," Chopin's Nocturne No. 20 in C sharp minor and Wieniawski's Scherzo Tarantella for violin and piano. Mature enough to handle the pieces with vigor and ease and young enough to giggle when tuning takes a little longer than anticipated, Lee holds their complete attention.” Las Vegas Sun
Violinist Lee shows killer finish with Waco Symphony Orchestra
"Always leave 'em wanting more, goes the show business adage, and 16-year-old violinist Shannon Lee did precisely that at Thursday night's Waco Symphony Orchestra concert at Waco Hall.
Lee, having played a remarkable Beethoven Violin Concerto with a rock-solid WSO, then took it up a notch with an encore announced from the stage - help me here, audience members; I couldn't hear her say the piece - that displayed a virtuosity and personality yet unrevealed in the Beethoven.
The encore, which came after a second curtain call and triggered a standing ovation plus two more curtain calls, showcased the Plano resident's skill in playing double stops (with a touch of string plucking thrown in for good measure) in its first section, followed by cooly furious runs and arpeggios. Lee played with an emotional restraint through the first two movements of the Beethoven, but began to relax by the third and final movement, her physical ease continuing in the encore."
"Dressed in a white satin gown with navy backing, her dark hair pulled back in a pony tail, Lee performed the Beethoven with a command of dynamics and range. The young violinist seemed to relish the work's more melodic lines, in particular the concerto's second movement, and cadenzas near the close of the first and third movements seemed to reveal her youth and voice.
The first had a double stop passage with musical lines in different directions, a run requiring exceptional focus and one where her tonal control weakened a bit into a line with a sharp edge rather than rounded tone. The second, flashier cadenza showed Lee's smarts and musical will as she employed her technique to mold lines into a musical direction rather than simply show off virtuosity. Her encore, incidentally, underlined the best in both cadenzas." Waco Tribune-Herald