Concert Preview: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Auckland Town Hall

Michael Hill award winner Feng Ning has established himself on the world's concert circuits. Photo / Supplied

Over the last decade, the Michael Hill International Violin Competition has made itself a key event in the national and international musical calendar. And lately it has been revealed that the various judging panels have made some extremely savvy decisions.

Just last month, Joseph Lin, the first Michael Hill winner back in 2001, was appointed first violinist with the esteemed Juilliard Quartet. And, a little over a week ago, it was announced that Josef Spacek, who carried the prize off last year, will be occupying the concertmaster's chair with the Czech Philharmonic.

In the meantime, Feng Ning, who earned the Hill award in 2005 with an astounding Brahms Concerto, sustains an impressive career on the concert stages of the world. Best of all, he finds time in his busy schedule to visit us at least once a year.

Two recitals with pianist Michael Houstoun have treated us to such choice rarities as the Schubert Fantasy and the Poulenc; playing with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, he has even illuminated the tired romantic strains of Bruch's Scottish Fantasy.

On Thursday, once more with the APO, Ning is to play Alexander Glazunov's charming Concerto and it is "a wonderful example of the Russian romantic style at its most passionate," he says.

Better still, this is a piece that was recorded not once but twice by his favourite violinists, Jascha Heifetz and David Oistrakh.

Speaking of Heifetz, Ning is vociferous in his admiration. "There is such perfection there," he says.

"But Heifetz shows us how we need to have that sure technique and then use it in the services of art."

Yet, the violinist admits, technique is not all. Oistrakh may not be unerringly perfect but "his playing can bring me closer to the music and I feel part of the story; I feel connected".

All this talk of technique inevitably takes us to the great Nicolo Paganini. Ning has made something of a name for himself with this music, winning the prestigious Premio Paganini Competition in 2006. Those of us who had been transfixed by his town hall encore of the Italian composer's Variations on God Save the King the previous year were not at all surprised by his Genoa success, nor when this showpiece turned up on Ning's 2007 CD, Hello Mr Paganini.

"Violin playing wasn't the same after Paganini," says Ning.

"Yet, on paper, this music isn't the greatest - perhaps it's not even great. I suppose you could say it was a light classic like the Italian operas of Rossini."

In fact, Hello Mr Paganini opens with a brilliant Fantasia on Non piu mesta from Rossini's La Cenerentola, in the Fritz Kriesler arrangement.

Just as Paganini almost teases Rossini's melody out in the opening Andante, he was also more than a little wary in revealing the secrets of his art.

"He didn't publish a lot of his music while he was alive," Ning confides. "He kept his techniques secret so that others didn't know how to do it."

While Hello Mr Paganini is dominated by Kreisler's arrangements of violin and piano works, one is impatient to see Ning joining his fellow fiddlers, from James Ehnes to, most recently, Julia Fischer, committing Paganini's iconic Caprices to disc.

"Every single Caprice comes with such a technical challenge, yet there is such sparkle," Ning enthuses. "They're like a collection of fireworks. Even if the depth of the music isn't the greatest, they are still so very Italian, so romantic.

"After a Paganini performance, people leave saying, 'Wow that's difficult', but there's more than this to the music," says Ning. Which leaves me wondering what might be in the offing at encore time on Thursday.

What: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Thursday at 8pm