Programme Guide

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, born into a Moldavian family of musicians, is a bundle of energy. One live performance per evening is not enough for her: after the violinist had performed Peter Eötvös’s Second Violin Concerto with the Berliner Philharmoniker, under the direction of the composer, she then played this Late Night concert as well. And her choice of programme demonstrates her versatility once again. She presents a sonata and a duet that the Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya composed for violin and piano in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Characteristic of this pupil of Dmitri Shostakovich: an expressive, idiosyncratic and at the same time austere musical language. The performance together with British gambist Laurence Dreyfus marks a striking contrast to the two works by Galina Ustvolskaya. They perform real gems of Early music: delicate and intimate bicinia from the Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

An extreme range from gentle to tough, mellifluous and wild: that is also a hallmark of Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s style of making music, and it’s what makes the violinist’s performances so intense and unique. It is no accident that the press likes to describe her as a “natural phenomenon” or a “sublime violin witch”. Her duo partner at the piano is Austrian pianist Markus Hinterhäuser, currently artistic director of the Vienna Festival and designated director of the Salzburg Festival.