"He won fame by playing the Mozart sonatas and concertos. It's very rare to hear young musicians playing such fine, difficult Mozart. His feeling for music is as good as Mutter and his techniques even surpass hers. To my mind he is one of the top five violinists in the world now," he adds.

And the NDR orchestra under the baton of Christoph von Dohnonyi matches the soloist.

The NDR's last Shanghai concert in 2003 was such a hit that the applause continued even after the entire orchestra had left the stage. Conductor Christoph Escenbach had return to take another bow with the principal violinist.

Another sought-after soloist, American pianist Murray Perahia, will stage a recital at the Shanghai Concert Hall next Saturday.

This legendary pianist, in his early 50s, suffered a cut to his right hand but recovered and went on to produce award-winning recordings of Bach, including a cornerstone rendition of the "Goldberg Variations."

He will play Bach's "Partita No. 2 in C Minor," Beethoven's "Sonata in F Minor, Op 57" and Chopin's "Ballade No. 3 in A Flat, Op 47" for the Shanghai concert.

After Zimmermann's surprising Paganini encore last year, music circles are speculating about tonight's encore.

Critic Li says he encored Paganini's "God Save the King" in a Taiwan concert and the Chinese piece, "Blooming Flowers and Full Moon" in Beijing on this tour.

Li expects the Shanghai encore to be very different from the Sibelius concerto, as "he always wants to create something fresh for the audience. Maybe Bach, but whatever he chooses, it will be a surprise."

NDR Symphony concerts

Date: October 10-11, 7:30pm

Venue: Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, 425 Dingxiang Rd, Pudong

Tickets: 200-2,200 yuan

Tel: 6854-1234

Murray Perahia recital

Date: October 18, 7:30pm

Venue: Shanghai Concert Hall, 523 Yan'an Rd E.

Tickets: 100-800 yuan

Tel: 962-288

(Shanghai Daily October 10, 2008)