Patricia Kopatchinskaja

Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s focus is to get to the heart of the music, to its meaning for us — now and here. With a combination of depth, brilliance and humour, Kopatchinskaja brings an inimitable sense of theatrics to her music. Described by The New York Times ​“a player of rare expressive energy and disarming informality, of whimsy and theatrical ambition”, Kopatchinskaja’s distinctive approach always conveys the core of the work, whether it is with an out-of-the-box performance of a traditional violin repertoire classic or with an original staged project she presents as experimental performance dramaturge. 

A boundary-crosser who thrives on the challenge of musical experiments and describes contemporary music as her lifeblood, her absolute priority is the music of the 20th and 21st century and the collaboration with living composers such as Francisco Coll, Luca Francesconi, Michael Hersch, Márton Illés, György Kurtág, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Aureliano Cattaneo, Stefano Gervasoni, and many others. Kopatchinskaja directs staged concerts at venues on both sides of the Atlantic and collaborates with leading orchestras, conductors, and festivals worldwide. Starting from the 2024/25 season, she will serve as the Artistic Partner of the SWR Symphony Orchestra. A virtuoso, storyteller, and all-around phenomenon, her artistic direction will involve designing her own programmes, which will include both established concert formats and innovative theatrical and interdisciplinary approaches. Among these is the staged concert The Peace Project, which reflects on centuries of existential suffering caused by war through a kaleidoscope of baroque and modern works up to the present day. The project addresses the numerous reports from war zones, the violent disruption of daily life, and the constant fear for one’s life and loved ones. Kopatchinskaja will also be Artist in Residence at the 2025 Klarafestival, where she will continue to actively support themes related to environmental protection and sustainability in innovatively curated projects. Furthermore, she holds the position of Associated Artist of the SWR Experimentalstudio, one of the most important international research centres in the field of electronic music.

This season, she channels her creative prowess and versatility into performances at La Biennale di Venezia, BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival, and an appearance with the New York Philharmonic. In 2024, Kopatchinskaja is honouring Schönberg’s 150th anniversary and performs his monumental Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Wiener Symphoniker, Dresdner Philharmonie, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, to name just a few. A trusted partner of the LPO for a decade, Kopatchinskaja will collaborate with the orchestra and Edward Gardner on an extensive U.S. tour culminating in a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York this autumn. Kopatchinskaja also reunites with Ensemble Resonanz for a new project, playground, to light-footedly deconstruct our familiar world, reassemble it back and lead the audience on an adventure of discovery through boundlessness. The programme features a new double concerto by Dai Fujikura alongside Claire Chase.