Patricia Kopatchinskaja

The violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja was born in 1977 in Chişinău, Moldova, to professional musicians; her mother also plays the violin and her father the cimbalom. In 1989, the family emigrated to Vienna, where Patricia Kopatchinskaja began her studies at the University of Music at the age of 16; four years later, she transferred to the Bern University of the Arts, where she completed her studies with Igor Ozim. In 2002 she received the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award. Since then, Patricia Kopatchinskaja has worked with such orchestras as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, causing a stir with her unusual, often radical interpretations. Her aim is to get to the heart of the music and explore its significance for the here and now, with works of the 20th and 21st centuries taking top priority. She has frequently developed staged concerts such as the programs Dies irae, Bye-Bye Beethoven, and Les Adieux. In 2023, she staged the Dada project Vergeigt with director Herbert Fritsch at Theater Basel. Kopatchinskaja, who was “artiste étoile” at Lucerne Festival in 2017, collaborates with the Camerata Bern as an artistic partner and with the SWR Experimental Studio as an associated artist. In the 2023-24 season, she was artist-in-residence at London’s Southbank Centre, the Vienna Konzerthaus, and the Essen Philharmonie and curated the Golden Decade Festival at the Dresden Philharmonie. Kopatchinskaja has recorded more than 30 CDs, receiving such distinctions as the International Classical Music Award, the Prix Caecilia, and Gramophone magazine’s Recording of the Year Award. Her album Death and the Maiden featuring works by composers from Dowland to Kurtág won a Grammy Award in 2018. Her CD Take Three, including clarinetist Reto Bieri and pianist Polina Leschenko, was released in January 2024 and features works by Poulenc, Schoenfield, Bartók, and Nichifor.

Lucerne Festival debut on 7 September 2002 with the Vienna Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons in the Sibelius Concerto.

August 2024