©Photo: JLA

©Photo: Roberts Blaubuks

©Photo: Janis Spigovskis

©Photo: Dario Acosta

Ksenija Sidorova

Accordion

Home
Reviews
Features
Discography

“Accordion virtuoso Sidorova was the indisputable highlight of the night”
BBC News, 2021

Praised as “revelatory” (The Telegraph) and playing with “verve, style, attitude and impeccable virtuosity” (ZealNYC), Ksenija Sidorova is the world’s undisputed leading ambassador for the classical accordion. Ksenija’s charismatic performances showcase not only her instrument’s unique capabilities, but also her own intense passion and breathtaking skill. Her repertoire spans over three centuries from J.S. Bach to Václav Trojan. She has championed concertos by Astor Piazolla and Erkki-Sven Tüür around the world – the latter often in collaboration with Paavo Järvi.

A passionate advocate of new music, several accordion works have been composed especially for her. Already in January 2023, Ksenija has released the first recording of Arturs Maskats’ accordion concerto with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and Andris Poga, described as “wonderful and evocative” (Gramophone). She begins this season by giving the world premiere of Chaconne by Sergei Akhunov with both Riga Sinfonietta and London Chamber Orchestra acting as co-commissioners. Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits is also writing a new concerto for her to be premiered with Paavo Järvi and his Estonian Festival Orchestra at Parnu Festival in summer 2024.

This season, she returns to Münchner Philharmoniker and will make her debut with Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Istanbul State Symphony, Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra, and Collegium Musicum Basel. Recent highlights include Le Concert de Paris with Orchestre National de France and the Last Night of the Proms with BBC Symphony Orchestra where she was “the indisputable highlight of the evening” (BBC News). She performs regularly with Tonhalle Orchester-Zürich, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and Stuttgarter Philharmoniker. She maintains long-standing working relationships with eminent conductors such as Paavo Järvi, Thomas Hengelbrock and Vasily Petrenko, and also with Krzysztof Urbański, Christian Reif and Nil Venditti.

In chamber music this season, she starts original collaborations with artistic colleagues: a beautifully crafted programme ‘Anima’ with Signum Saxophone Quartet and a special project with tenor Benjamin Appl. Last season, Ksenija and longtime friend, mandolinist Avi Avital, celebrated their 10-year anniversary of playing together at the Wigmore Hall, and they tour this season across Germany and Belgium. Her other chamber partners include Nemanja Radulović, Andreas Ottensamer, Goldmund Quartet, Camille Thomas, Tine Thing Helseth, Juan Diego Flórez and Nicola Benedetti. Ksenija is a staple guest performer at the Ravinia, Cheltenham, Mostly Mozart, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad Menuhin, MITO, Verbier and Rheingau music festivals.

Her album Piazzolla Reflections (Alpha), released in 2021, has been acclaimed as “brilliantly played [and] beautifully recorded” (Gramophone), numbered among the best new classical albums of the year (Classic Review), and was named BR Klassik’s album of the month. This follows previous successful releases: Classical Accordion (Champs Hill Records, 2011); Fairy Tales (Champs Hill Records, 2013) recorded with BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Rundel; and Carmen (Deutsche Grammophon, 2016) for which she won the ECHO prize for Instrumentalist of the Year in 2017.

Encouraged by her grandmother, herself steeped in the folk tradition of accordion playing, Ksenija started to play the instrument at the age of six under the guidance of Marija Gasele in her hometown of Riga. Her unfettered interest in classical and contemporary repertoire took her to the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she became a prize-winning undergraduate and postgraduate studying under Owen Murray. In May 2012, she became the first International Award winner of the Bryn Terfel Foundation and appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2015 as part of his 50^th birthday celebrations, alongside Sting. She is a recipient of Philharmonia Orchestra’s Martin Musical Scholarship and Friends of the Philharmonia Award, as well as the Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal. Ksenija has been an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music since 2016 and was made a Fellow (FRAM) in 2021.

Ksenija Sidorova: on her Alpha album ‘Piazzolla Reflections’, 2021

Ksenija Sidorova: Frank Angelis, Fantasie on Astor Piazzolla's Chiquilin de Bachin, with Camerata RCO, 2021

Ksenija Sidorova: Astor Piazzolla, Five Tango Sensations, with Camerata RCO, 2021

Ksenija Sidorova: Sergey Voitenko, Revelation, 2021

Ksenija Sidorova: J. S. Bach, Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ BWV639, 2020

Ksenija Sidorova: How does the accordion work, on Classic FM, 2020

Ksenija Sidorova: J.S. Bach, Concerto in D minor (Allegro) at WDR Adventskonzert, 2015

Ksenija Sidorova: Astor Piazzolla, Libertango at Le Concert de Paris, 2021

Ksenija Sidorova: Erkki-Sven Tüür, ‘Prophecy’ concerto with Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Paavo Järvi, 2021

“Accordion virtuoso Sidorova was the indisputable highlight of the night”

BBC News, September 2021 (Last Night of the Proms)

“Sidorova has the sort of virtuosity that is revelatory, in the proper sense of the word. She makes you aware that the accordion can be as lyrically graceful as a violin, and is also capable of producing bewitchingly strange, modern-music sounds.”

The Telegraph, September 2021 (Last Night of the Proms)

“At the programme’s heart is a riveting interpretation of Piazzolla’s Bandoneón Concerto. Sidorova gives real urgency to the motoric rhythms in the outer movements, while her rubato in lyrical passages can be daringly free yet feels utterly natural […] Brilliantly played and intelligently programmed, this beautifully recorded album is Sidorova’s best yet, and the most satisfying Piazzolla disc to come my way in quite some time.”

Gramophone, March 2021 (Piazzolla Reflections/Alpha)

“Clearly a master of the instrument, Sidorova draws out an amazing variety of colors and textures from these pieces. She captures every subtle change in inflection, articulation, and mood: wistful and fragile one moment, sultry and lavish the next.”

The Classic Review, March 2021 (Piazzolla Reflections/Alpha)

“The Latvian-born musician […] with a virtuosity that enables her to turn her weighty instrument into something of a full orchestra. Her repertoire is bold and out of the ordinary.”

Chicago Tonight, July 2018 (Ravinia festival)

“Ksenija Sidorova conjured up dreamlike to passionate music on her accordion. […] It was a musical moment of glory, which made the audience smile and wonder of such mastery.”

Luzerner Zeitung, May 2018

“Sidorova is eager to blow your mind with the vast and dazzling possibilities of her instrument that go leagues beyond the stereotypes. Sidorova played with verve, style, and attitude, as well as impeccable virtuosity and an amazing dynamic range. Her music-making included a considerable amount of showmanship, as if she were creating performance art, not just playing an instrument.”

ZealNYC, Joshua Rosenblum, August 2017

“Latvian virtuoso Ksenija Sidorova appeared in “A Little Night Music,” the Mostly Mozart Festival’s late-night concert series, and her performances were revelatory.”

The New York Times, August 2017

“Virtuoso Latvian accordion player Ksenija Sidorova, whose wonderful dexterity, tone and sheer sense of fun, makes the instrument something of a revelation”

Liverpool Echo, December 2017