Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Joonas Ahonen
Biography Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Joonas Ahonen
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
A combination of depth, brilliance and humour, Kopatchinskaja brings an inimitable sense of theatrics to her music. Whether performing a violin concerto by Tchaikovsky, Ligeti or Schoenberg or presenting an original staged project deconstructing Beethoven, Ustwolskaja or Cage, her distinctive approach always conveys the core of the work.
Highlights of the 2020/21 season included a residency with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, performing Shostakovich with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, and a residency with SWR Symphony Orchestra, performing Schumann with Christoph Eschenbach. Kopatchinskaja also brought her own unique creativity to these residencies, performing “Pierrot Lunaire” and her project “Dies Irae” respectively. Another highlight of the season was her debut at the BBC Proms, performing Bartók with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Dausgaard.
Kopatchinskaja also gave recitals in venues across Europe such as Wiener Konzerthaus, DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen and Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, performing with regular recital partners Joonas Ahonen and Polina Leschenko.
Kopatchinskaja’s album “Pierrot Lunaire” was released in April 2021, listed as one of Gramophone magazine’s Essential Albums; summer 2021 performances included Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg Festival and Oslo Chamber Festival. Other CD releases in the 2020/21 season include “Les Plaisirs Illuminés” with Sol Gabetta and Camerata Bern (Alpha Classics) and Francisco Coll’s Violin Concerto with Orchestra Philharmonique du Luxembourg and Gustavo Gimeno (Pentatone).
The forthcoming 2021/22 season features engagements with top level orchestras including residencies with Berliner Philharmoniker and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, a tour with Budapest Festival Orchestra, and her continued residency as Artistic Partner with Camerata Bern. Kopatchinskaja also travels to North America with performances in Seattle and Toronto, and in autumn 2021 will tour Europe with cellist Sol Gabetta ahead of their forthcoming duo album on Alpha Classics.
Kopatchinskaja will continue to showcase the works of living composers such as Luca Francesconi, Michael Hersch, György Kurtág and Márton Illés in her varied and innovative curated projects like “Bye Bye Beethoven”, and her video recording of Kurt Schwitters’ surreal Dadaist poem “Ursonate”.
Kopatchinskaja’s other projects explore music staged through contemporary contexts, such as “Dies Irae”, a deconstruction of the traditional concert experience inspired by the growing climate crisis. Her Vivaldi project with Il Giardino Armonico featuring new works by living composers was released on disc in summer 2020 on Alpha Classics.
Kopatchinskaja continues to work closely with Camerata Bern, performing regularly with the ensemble at home and on tour, and their recording “Time and Eternity” was released in autumn 2019. She held the position of Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 2014-2018, and is also a humanitarian ambassador for Terre des Hommes, the leading Swiss child relief agency. She was awarded the Swiss Grand Award for Music by the Federal Office of Culture for Switzerland in 2017 and has held positions as Artist in Residence at various festivals including Lucerne (2017) and Ojai (2018). In 2018 she won a Grammy Award in the Best Chamber and Small Ensemble Performance category for “Death and the Maiden” with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (Alpha) and was nominated in 2014 in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category (Naïve).
