Spain
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 essence of a work, whether in a fresh interpretation of a violin repertoire classic or through one of her original staged projects that cross musical, theatrical, and interdisciplinary boundaries.
A visionary who thrives on experimentation and collaboration, she describes contemporary music as her lifeblood. Her artistic partnerships with living composers such as Francisco Coll, Luca Francesconi, Michael Hersch, Márton Illés, György Kurtág, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Aureliano Cattaneo have resulted in numerous world premieres. Kopatchinskaja directs staged concerts at venues on both sides of the Atlantic and collaborates with leading orchestras, conductors, and festivals worldwide. A virtuoso, storyteller, and all-around phenomenon, Kopatchinskaja continues to serve as Artistic Partner of the SWR Symphony Orchestra, designing her own programmes in both established and innovative staged concert formats. 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 kicks off the 2025/26 season with the Staatskapelle Berlin. Further ahead, she appears as the London Symphony Orchestra’s Artist Portrait, performing Berg’s Violin Concerto, Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto, and Márton Illés’ Violin Concerto, including a tour to Spain. She also channels her creative prowess and versatility into composition and celebrates a personal milestone as composer with the performance of her double concerto for violin and cello, Five Dreams, at the Lucerne Festival Forward. Following her debut with the New York Philharmonic last season, Kopatchinskaja also debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra. Two of her signature staged projects feature prominently this season. Dies Irae - a part-concert, part-installation presented at Princeton University - merges a fierce musical enactment of the Day of Judgment with a sharp critique of war and the climate crisis as drivers of human self-destruction. Drawing on works by Scelsi, Biber, Crumb, Hendrix, Lotti, Dowland, and Ustvolskaya, the provocative, semi-staged performance evokes a haunting “day of wrath” in response to global collapse, resource wars, and the refugee crisis. At the Salzburg Festival she revives another signature project, Les Adieux, confronting the rapid deterioration of the natural world. Following her tenure as Artist-in-Residence at the Prague Spring Festival 2025, Kopatchinskaja reunites with the Czech Philharmonic and Jakub Hrůša for Fišer’s Violin Concerto. She also champions new music with the world premiere of a violin concerto by Stefano Gervasoni with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France as part of the Festival ManiFeste.
In recent seasons, Kopatchinskaja has curated major residencies at the Southbank Centre, London, Wiener Konzerthaus (where she is the youngest honorary member of the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft), Philharmonie Essen, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Last year's Golden Decade festival at the Dresden Philharmonic featured her performing six major violin works from the Classical Modern era over three consecutive evenings. Highlights have included Songs and Fragments, a Barrie Kosky production at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence together with soprano Anna Prohaska and a daring musical experiment with Herbert Fritsch - a Neo-Dada opera production Vergeigt at Theater Basel. Last season, Kopatchinskaja honoured Schönberg's 150th anniversary by performing his monumental violin concerto with the BBC and Vienna Symphony orchestras, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, to name just a few. As part of the anniversary celebration, Kopatchinskaja's performance of Pierrot Lunaire at the Palau de la Música in 2025 took place exactly 100 years to the day after Schönberg himself staged his melodrama at this venue. Kopatchinskaja also performs as a vocal artist in Ligeti’s Mystères du macabre or Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire where she takes on the role of Pierrot himself, as well as her project presenting Kurt Schwitters’ poem Ursonate as a film in the style of Dada. She was also an Associated Artist of the SWR Experimentalstudio, one of the world’s leading centres for electronic music research.
Kopatchinskaja’s discography includes over 30 recordings, among them GRAMMY award-winning Death and the Maiden with Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, a project which was also re-created as a semi-staged filmed performance with Camerata Bern. Recent CD releases season included Les Plaisirs Illuminés with Sol Gabetta and Camerata Bern, which was saluted with a BBC Music Magazine award and Le monde selon George Antheil with Joonas Ahonen (both on Alpha Classics). A revival of the project Maria Mater Meretrix with Anna Prohaska presenting the image of women throughout the centuries in a musical mosaic was also released on CD last season, as well as a new recording with Fazil Say which marks the comeback of their duo and has been awarded Editor's Choice by Gramophone. This season has also seen the release of the album Take 3 with clarinettist Reto Bieri and pianist Polina Leschenko - a testament to the enduring partnership of these three artists, celebrating their shared musical journey and musical origins.
