With 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, Fesival d’Aix-en-Provence, Bamberg Symphony, and SWR Symphony Orchestra. Kopatchinskaja brought her own unique creativity to these residencies, performing Pierrot Lunaire and her project Dies Irae to great acclaim. Another highlight of the season was her debut at the BBC Proms, performing Bartók with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov, which received a 5* review from The Times (as did her Edinburgh Festival recital with Joonas Ahonen). Kopatchinskaja also gave recitals in venues across Europe such as Wiener Konzerthaus, DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Liszt Academy of Music, Passau Festival, DeDoelen in Rotterdam, and Gstaad Festival, performing with regular recital partners Joonas Ahonen, Polina Leschenko and Fazil Say.
The forthcoming 2021/22 season features engagements with top level orchestras including residencies with Berlin Philharmoniker and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, a tour with Budapest Festival Orchestra, appearances with Toronto Symphony with Gustavo Gimeno, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, and her continued residency as Artistic Partner with Camerata Bern.
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 musical reflection on the the growing environmental crisis. She brings this production to Glasgow in November 2021 with RSNO to coincide with the global COP26 summit.
CD releases in the 2020/21 season included Les Plaisirs Illuminés with Sol Gabetta and Camerata Bern (Alpha Classics), which was nominated for a Gramophone Magazine award, and Francisco Coll’s Violin Concerto with Orchestra Philharmonique du Luxembourg and Gustavo Gimeno (Pentatone). Kopatchinskaja and Gabetta will tour Europe in autumn of 2021 to mark the release of their forthcoming duos album (Alpha Classics). Kopatchinskaja’s Vivaldi project with Il Giardino Armonico, “What’s Next Vivaldi?” featuring new works by living composers, was released on disc in summer 2020 on Alpha Classics and received an Opus Klassik award in autumn 2021. 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). In 2021 this project was reborn as a semi-staged filmed performance with Camerata Bern, premiered on HarrisonParrott’s digital platform Virtual Circle.
Kopatchinskaja held the position of Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 2014 – 2018, and is 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).
Stand: Juli 2022
