14 Feb 2023

Violinist Geneva Lewis

From Three to Seven, 4:10 pm on 14 February 2023
Violinist Geneva Lewis sits cross-legged with her violin held upright in her lap.

Geneva Lewis Photo: Motti Fang-Bentov

New Zealand-born violinist Geneva Lewis joins the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in February to make her Australasian debut with a performance of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto. 

She talked with Bryan Crump about coming back to New Zealand for the first time since her family left for the States in 2005, and what she loves about the Barber concerto. 

“It’s such an emotional piece, it has such a huge range of feelings and experiences,“ Geneva says.

“You can put your whole heart and soul into the piece – it's all in the music.” 

The 24-year-old lives in California, and has performed with many of America's top orchestras as a soloist. She chose a career in music with the blessing of her tennis champion father, Chris Lewis.

Geneva Lewis says the lessons her father learned on the way to the Wimbledon final in 1983, as well as those of her runway model mother, have come in handy as she tackles the international classical music circuit.

New Worlds 
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra 

Thursday 23 February, 7.30pm 
Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall 

Conductor Giordano Bellincampi 
Violin Geneva Lewis
Korngold Overture to a Drama
Barber Violin Concerto
Dvořák Symphony No.9 ‘From the New World’

This performance will be broadcast live-to-air on RNZ Concert