What Elena Urioste dared to achieve in less than three weeks would have baffled most seasoned artists. The 23-year old violinist made three orchestral debuts, performing seven concerts with dramatically different repertoire in just 18 days, the first of them on very short notice. All performances garnered rave reviews.

While all three were a challenge, the Richmond and Chicago performances were perhaps the most unnerving. For her Richmond Symphony performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Ms. Urioste jumped in with less than a week's notice to replace an ailing Tai Murray. Then it was on to Buffalo for two performances of the Glazunov Concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic. Flying straight to Chicago for a triple performance of Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending, Ms. Urioste not only made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, but for two of her concerts performed on an extraordinary violin on generous loan from the Stradivari Society: the $18 million "Vieuxtemps" Guarneri del Gesù, dubbed "The Beast." Surprisingly, this was the first time the Vaughan Williams work had been performed by the CSO in its 119-year history.

Here's what the critics had to say:

"Urioste, 23, has a confident, straightforward sound to go with her outstanding technical skill. The first movement [of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto] is so large and demanding, and Urioste played so magnificently, that the audience burst into lengthy applause at its end. This didn't prevent her from immersing herself in the music of the second movement, which she played like a mother's evening song.

The third movement, "Allegro vivacissimo," calls for ever-increasing tempos. Even at top speed, each of Urioste's notes was crisp and clear. Throughout, the symphony provided sensitive support.

With what must surely be a waxing musicality and strength, Urioste is poised for a successful career. Recordings, one hopes, are in her future, but if she visits Richmond in person again, don't miss her".

-Angela Lehman-Rios, Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Urioste is a young artist with poise and a disarmingly direct manner. She swept out on stage in a beautiful black gown and poured her heart into the lovely Glazunov. Her tone was rich, warm and confiding. The beautiful themes soared... She seemed to come at the music from beneath, bringing out its depths.

Urioste had a delightful way of finishing phrases, dashing them off and then touching her bow to the ground. It was a nice bit of showmanship, perhaps her only one. The last movement, one of the great treats of the violin literature, had her playing off members of the BPO. Jingly and sprightly, the themes echoed each other".

-Mary Kunz Goldman, Buffalo News

"The Lark Ascending is a fragrant little nosegay of English pastoralism. The gifted young violinist Elena Urioste, in her Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut, charmed the audience with her lyrical sensitivity. For this performance she traded her Gagliano fiddle for the famed, $18 million, 1741 "Vieuxtemps" Guarneri del Gesu violin, on loan from Chicago's Stradivari Society. The sweet yet refined sound she drew from it was every violinist's dream come true".

-John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune

"Remarkably, [Ralph Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending] is receiving its first-ever CSO performances this week... If we had to wait this long, however, then it might as well have been to hear Elena Urioste, just 23, a Basque-Mexican-American and a Sphinx Competition double winner, in her CSO debut ... A totally poised performer, Urioste also understands what it takes to play a piece marked by such humility. If anyone has played solo pianissimos at Orchestra Hall with the hypnotic delicacy that Urioste and her 1706 Gagliano offered, I must have been away. She already has a challenging and highly varied repertoire. Let's hear her again soon".

-Andrew Patner, Chicago Sun-Times

"Most violinists would likely prefer to make their Chicago Symphony debut with a splashy concerto, but in its intimate fashion, Elena Urioste's performance of Vaughan Williams's gentle tone poem was as compelling as any Romantic barnburner.

From the hushed rustle of her opening bars, the 23-year-old violinist played with inward delicacy and expressive poise, her communicative performance aided by the sweet, penetrating sound of the $18 million "Vieuxtemps" Guarneri, on loan from the Stradivari Society for these concerts. In the closing cadenza, Urioste's barely audible fade into the distance could not have been more sensitively rendered, the young soloist winnowing her tone to a barely audible filigree. Urioste's poetic performance was aided by equally idiomatic and atmospheric support by Elder and the orchestra, particularly Daniel Gingrich's evocative horn solo".

-Lawrence A. Johnson, Chicago Classical Review

Immediately after this series of concerts, Ms. Urioste returns to the Florida Orchestra for two performances of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5. She makes her London Philharmonic debut this June with two community concerts and also performs in recital there. Ms. Urioste made her successful Wigmore Hall debut last October as one of three winners of the London Music Masters award, which supports the careers of emerging solo violinists.

In addition to her extensive concerto and recital repertoire, Ms. Urioste is an active chamber musician, having most recently performed in the El Paso Chamber Festival and in performance with Christopher O'Riley and Carter Brey. She will spend this summer at the renowned Marlboro Music Festival before returning in late summer to perform at the Sion-Valais Music Festival in Switzerland.

Ms. Urioste is a two-time winner of the prestigious Sphinx Competition, as well as the winner of the Sion-Valais International Violin Competition.