The Edmonton Sun, May 27, 2000

Tell Lara we love her

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Fantasia on two Russian Themes proved a delight and she played the soulful passages with a fine, high ribbon of sound, digging into the virtuoso stuff with real excitement.

She's known for being a passionate, intense, in-the-moment artist and that's what the audience at the sold-out Winspear heard.

St. John played the third soaring tune with a haunting, plaintive tone. The last violin piece, Tchaikovsky's Valse-Scherzo, is another unknown but another charmer. This is another showpiece, with flashy solos for the violin, and St. John attacked them boldly. She's a superbly disciplined artist who gets the maximum from each movement and the audience went wild, the first floor giving her a standing ovation.