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Review: Dallas International Violin Competition presents its winners

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Review: Dallas International Violin Competition presents its winners


Another week, another D-FW classical music competition.

Tuesday night, just a week and a half after the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition named its winners in Fort Worth, the Dallas International Violin Competition presented its three finalists in concert at Moody Performance Hall, then announced their prizes.

The $2,500 first prize went to American violinist Laurel Gagnon, currently studying at the Yale University School of Music. The prize also includes a future solo engagement with the Dallas Chamber Symphony, which presented the competition.

The $1,500 second prize and $500 audience choice award went to Hong Kong native Hiu Sing Fan, who’s pursuing a doctor of musical arts degree at Northwestern University.

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The $1,000 third prize was awarded to Alice Lee, a Canadian studying at New England Conservatory.

In the concert, each of the finalists played a violin concerto with the Chamber Symphony, led by guest conductor Peter Bay, music director of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Gagnon performed the Brahms concerto, Fan and Lee the Sibelius.

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Thomas Adès arrangements of Couperin joined works by Bizet and Saint-Saëns.

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Pianist Christopher Goodpasture supplied great flair in works by Liszt and Turina.

The biennial competition is open to violinists 18 to 35. From applications and video recordings, 16 violinists were selected for the in-person competition. The first two rounds were held June 12 and 13 at the Murchison Performing Arts Center at the University of North Texas in Denton.

Each quarterfinalist performed a violin concerto with piano accompaniment, after which nine semifinalists performed recitals of unaccompanied solo violin works. A jury of three professional violinists/teachers picked contestants for each round.

It’s impressive that even a newer and lower-visibility competition could attract players of such technical authority and interpretive sophistication as the three heard Tuesday. Different listeners might have ranked them very differently.

All three occasionally overdid gruff bowings of fortissimo double-stops, at least for a 700-seat hall about one-third the size of most orchestra halls. This bothered me more in the Brahms, where it’s better to err on the side of reserve. And for me Gagnon’s choice of the over-the-top Fritz Kreisler cadenza overloaded the concerto.

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But she’s an accomplished and expressive musician, and after Bay and the orchestra — principal oboist Elise Belk especially — eloquently introduced the slow movement, Gagnon tapped right into their timing and tapered phrases. The finale was a little more deliberate than I was expecting, but Brahms does qualify his “happy allegro” marking with “but not too lively.”

Both Fan and Lee delivered Sibelius’ scurries, double-stops and leaps into high pianissimos with impressive assurance, but differently. Not for Lee the Nordic cool often heard in the piece — hers was a passionate account, by turns earthy and ethereal, with considerable freedom in the built-in cadenza. Fan’s Sibelius was more conventionally cool, with a fine focus throughout.

With wind and brass sections as large as would be deployed in a 2,000-seat hall, although far fewer strings, Bay had his work cut out to keep the orchestra in balance. Apart from an occasional spot when flutes and clarinets or horns were a little too prominent, he and the players maintained impressive equilibrium. Always attuned to the soloists, Bay shaped the music securely and sensitively.

This would have been a good opportunity to ask the audience not to applaud after every movement, as it did Tuesday. And prolonged late seating during the slow movement of Lee’s Sibelius was unfortunate.



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Dallas, TX

Woman arrested near downtown Dallas with 39 bags of crack cocaine, police say

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Woman arrested near downtown Dallas with 39 bags of crack cocaine, police say


Dallas Police Central Business District officers recovered 39 bags of crack cocaine during an arrest Tuesday.

The officers, working with the U.S. Marshal’s North Texas Fugitive Task Force, seized the drugs when they arrested 40-year-old Velisa Purvis, who was wanted on four outstanding felony warrants.

Officers spotted Purvis in the 1500 block of Garrett Avenue near Old East Dallas and took her into custody.

In addition to the cocaine, officers recovered two bags of suspected methamphetamine, drug packaging, money and marijuana.

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She now faces additional charges of manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance between four grams and 200 grams and manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance between one and four grams for the crack cocaine, methamphetamine, currency, and individual packages with the intent to distribute.



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Anti-ICE protest outside Dallas City Hall follows deadly shooting in Minneapolis

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Anti-ICE protest outside Dallas City Hall follows deadly shooting in Minneapolis




Anti-ICE protest outside Dallas City Hall follows deadly shooting in Minneapolis – CBS Texas

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This protest was organized by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

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Dallas Weather: Changes on the way for North Texas

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Dallas Weather: Changes on the way for North Texas


The warm and muggy weather will give way to much cooler temperatures in the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the next few days.

Thursday Forecast

According to the FOX 4 Weather team, rain chances return on Thursday as a disturbance moves through the Plains. 

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The best chance for showers and storms will be north of Interstate 20. There’s a marginal risk for severe storms for the areas northwest of DFW and along the Red River.

A southwest wind will also keep things very warm throughout the day. Expect highs to climb into the upper 70s to 80s. Wind gusts may reach as high as 25 to 30 mph.

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Weekend Forecast

The next cold front swings through on Friday afternoon. Ahead of it, there are rain chances, especially southeast of DFW.

Behind this front, noticeably colder air moves in for the weekend. Expect lows in the 30s and afternoon highs in the 50s. 

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7-Day Forecast

A slow warm-up is expected heading into early next week.

The Source: The information in this story comes from FOX 4 Weather Meteorologist Ali Turiano’s weather report.

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