Belgian violinist Lorenzo Gatto, the second-prize winner at the prestigious 2009 Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition, holds his first solo recital in Korea at the Seoul Arts Center on Aug. 6. Together with Italian pianist Roberto Giordano, the 26-year-old will perform Paganini’s variations on the G string on a theme from Rossini’s “Moses,” Kreisler’s variation on a theme by Corelli and Ravel’s Tzigane.

Gatto will also perform with Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra led by maestro Gum Nan-se on Aug. 8 at Incheon Culture and Arts Center. The program includes Saint-Saens’ Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor Op. 61.

The upcoming recitals are his first and second in Korea.

He was in Korea last year to perform a joint concert “Traveling Paganini: Journey to the Sun” with three other acclaimed classical musicians ― guitarist Denis Sung-ho Janssens, violist Lyda Chen Argerich and cellist Song Young-hoon.

Born in Brussels in 1986, Gatto began playing the violin at the age of 5. He began to grab attention in Europe as he won the 1st prize at the International Andrea Pstacchini Competition in Italy at 16 and another 1st prize at the International RNCM Competition in Manchester at 18.

Tickets for the Lorenzo Gatto recital in Seoul are from 20,000 won to 80,000 won.

For more information, call (02) 746-8821 or visit www.sensmanagement.com.

Tickets for the Incheon concert range from 5,000 won to 10,000 won. For more information, call (032) 438-7772.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)