The death of classical music is dead. We see evidence of it right here in the challenging, modern programing of the SF Symphony which fills Davies nightly. MTT opens yet another world premiere next month with Robin Holloway's Fourth Concerto for Orchestra and we are getting ready for the US premiere of John Adams A Flowering Tree, his follow-up opera to the hugely successful Dr Atomic. We see proof of it in the downloads of music over the internets, where classical music share doubles what it is in the music stores. Classical music is modern and hip.

To drive the point home, SF Performances is inviting Jennifer Koh to perform this Saturday at Herbst theater. Jennifer Koh is an outstanding violinist who is totally committed to an exciting, modern, living repertoire, and she got the awards to show for it. She and her piano accompanist, Reiko Uchida, will present pieces by Schubert, Schumann and Janacek, but also by Gyorgy Kurtag and Jennifer Higdon. You know the music is contemporary when the composer owns her domain name. For some Kurtag praise, take a peek here and here. Jennifer Koh will take you on a wild ride to discover some great new music, but before, the Chicago-raised, NYC-based violinist answers our questions below. And for the record, we totally could handcuff our ankles to our wrists, we're kinky that way. Now go wash that image off your mind.

We googled around, we could not find previous performances from you in San Francisco, which we find hard to believe. Is Saturday’s the first one? You’ve been here before, right? Have you ever played with MTT, here or with his New World Symphony?

This is actually my third performance in San Francisco through San Francisco Performances. I am always happy to play here especially because some of my closest friends live in the city and when visiting them in the past, I absolutely fell in love with the city. I have also played in places close ot the city - the last time was in October when I played with Marin Symphony and Alasdair Neale! I have played with New World Symphony in Miami. Alasdair and I did an all Beethoven tour in Florida with them.[N.B.: Alasdair Neale is the principal guest conductor for the New World Symphony.]

The program is pretty funky: you have a sonatina by Schubert and a sonata by Schumann, but also pieces from Janacek, and from living composers like Jennifer Higdon or Gyorgy Kurtag. How do you compose the program? How do the pieces relate to each other? Do you have to have some dead German composers on the program to not scare people away?

I love creating programs. I love any opportunity to create a musical journey for myself and the audience. Every piece on this program is music that moves and intrigues me. I'll start from the beginning with the Janacek sonata. Janacek wrote his music in a style so unique to himself - no one around him at that time was writing anything even remotely like it! There is a passionate fervor and improvisatory vocal fantasy to his music that is indelibly and simply Janacek. There is nothing like it. The Schubert sonatina comes next and is also incredibly vocal (like the Janacek) but in a completely different way. It has a middle movement that is incredibly delicately bittersweet. I first truly discovered/uncovered Kurtag's music two summers ago and was incredibly drawn to his music's integrity and the challenge of interpreting his music, with its juxtaposition of a childlike wonder with a darker weight of wisdom. I have been in love with Schumann for as long as I can remember. His music never shies away from the human emotional range with all its ugliness and weaknesses and strengths and beauty. I think that vulnerability in his music has always resonated within me as both a listener and performer.

The Jennifer Higdon piece, String Poetic, was co-commissioned for you by San Francisco Performances. How cool is that? No one has heard the piece here in SF; how would you describe it?

San Francisco Performances helped to make one of my dreams come true. I am so thrilled to be performing this piece and I am most thrilled that this piece exists! This is a piece that is unique to Jennifer Higdon and yet grows out of a very clear American tradition. There is an homage to a great Bay Area composer as well... I'll let the audience guess who it is after they hear the piece!

How do you feel when you receive the score for a new piece like String Poetic? I forgot which conductor said that, as far as he was concerned, every new piece he conducts for the premiere is a masterpiece. Do you have a similar attitude?
I always fell like a kid in a candy store and I cannot wait to explore it and delve into it!

You are playing on a 1727 Stradivarius, which totally impresses us. Is that Yo-Yo Ma who forgot a Strad cello in a cab? Do you handcuff the case to your wrist when you travel? The violin is “ex Grumiaux, ex General DuPont,” can you tell us about what that means regarding its history?
I do not handcuff it to my wrist when I travel! I feel that an instrument becomes an extension of one's body. So just as I could not feasibly handcuff my foot to my wrist, the instrument handcuff would feel unnatural. Grumiaux was an incredible violinist and General Du Pont was a general in Napoleon's army. (He probably acquired the violin during one of the campaigns into Italy!).

We see that you have an outreach program called the Music Messenger program. Do you play with Bobby Timmons on piano and Art Blakey on drums? Can you describe the program a bit? How do kids react to it, do they say the darnedest things? Do you play some Kurtag to them?

Music messenger is a program that brings me into local schools in the different cities I travel to for performances. I am always inspired by the kids I meet. They are incredibly curious and open-mided and have a passion and fervor for discovery! They remind me of that we should all likve like them! And yes! I do play Kurtag and Bartok and Bach for them. There is an incredible range of great music out there and I want to share that with them!

Here in the bay area, if you say modern music, people will think of Berkeley-based John Adams right away. We are getting all psyched up with the upcoming US premiere of his Flowering Tree, with him conducting the SF symphony. That's the big ticket of the winter season. When you premiered String Poetic in Philly, you paired it with Adams Road Movies. Do you like his violin concertos? Would you perform them?

I love John Adams! And I love both his violin concerti! I am planning on performing it!