Yulia Vershinina, Stokesley Methodist Church

THE Russian-born Yulia Vershinina, who started studying piano when she was eight, has been an international competition winner since the age of 13.

She is a beautifully stylish performer. Opening with a re-arranged programme, she demonstrated the qualities of Schonberg’s music in his Piano Suite Op.25, explaining her view that he was not just a cold academic as many think, but playful and approachable.

By most popular standards, however, this is challenging music, consisting of six short movements, and it certainly benefited from Vershinina’s expressive style and marvellous command of the keyboard. She was warmly applauded, and thanked the audience for being prepared to listen to this "difficult" music.

Chopin’s Four Mazurkas Op. 30 made a complete contrast in style, returning to lyrical and more identifiably tuneful music.

This sensitive pianist clearly has a heartfelt love of the instrument and its music. Her interpretation and performance was flawless and his Polonaise Fantasie Op.61 was again beautifully played.

Even though he was dying when he composed it, it is as fiery and passionate work, though it has a perceptibly sad undertone. The quiet passages were very sensitively expressed and the final chords exquisite.

Vershinina’s style is polished and confident. She has an excellent stage presence, immediately connecting with the audience by engaging them in an exploration of the music and communicating her own enthusiasm so effectively. An enlightening and enjoyable concert.

There is encouraging news for music lovers in that since the start of the present season of Classical Cleveland concerts in Stokesley, audience numbers have been rising steadily and Vershinina’s piano recital drew the largest audience this year with over 70 per cent of the seats sold.

For final year undergraduates and postgraduates from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, monthly lunchtime concerts have become an established part of their course.

“We enjoy meeting the rising stars of the next generation of classical musicians, and they enjoy the opportunity to gain ‘platform experience’ in front of a live audience,” said concert organiser Peter Sotheran, who with his wife Sue, has now organised 40 concerts in Stokesley and Redcar since 2013.

Irene MacDonald