Leila Josefowicz

Violin

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“In short, a fantastic talent”
(Gramophone)

An outstanding champion of contemporary music, Leila Josefowicz is the chosen interpreter of several leading composers including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Steven Mackey and Luca Francesconi. Written for her by John Adams, Scheherazade.2 (Dramatic Symphony for Violin and Orchestra) was given its world premiere by Josefowicz in spring 2015 with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert.

Recent seasons have included concerts with Berliner Philharmoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Helsinki Philharmonic and Tokyo Metropolitan, St. Louis, San Francisco and Minnesota symphony orchestras. In summer 2017, Josefowicz appeared at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She returned to the London Symphony Orchestra in December 2016, performing John Adams’ Scheherazade.2 in London, Paris and Dijon.

Highlights of Josefowicz’s 2017/18 season include engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra and Iceland, Boston, Lahti and Finnish Radio symphony orchestras, as well as Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra. Alongside pianist John Novacek, with whom Josefowicz has enjoyed a close collaboration since 1985, she performs recitals in Reykjavik, Leeds, Chicago, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Halifax, and has appeared recently at world-renowned venues such as New York’s Zankel Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall, where she returns in autumn 2017.

Leila Josefowicz performs in the BBC Proms 2017

Leila Josefowicz - Knussen: Violin Concerto (extract) © Deutsche Grammophon

“From breathless pyrotechnic explosions to the episodes of expressive (but still steely) lyricism, [Leila Josefowicz] brought every corner of the work to light like a majestic tragedian.”

(San Francisco Chronicle, February 2017)

“Josefowicz’s musicianship is one of a kind — completely in tune with the shifting emotional landscape of Adams’ harmonic musical language, which is complex, but not in the over-intellectualized, 20^th-century avant-garde way. Its complexity reflects first and foremost the emotional complexity of the musical content. Josefowicz brought all these layers to life.”

(Thomas May, The Seattle Times, March 2016)

“Duende: The Dark Notes revealed itself to be a richly imagined score in this performance by the violinist Leila Josefowicz under the baton of Susanna Mälkki. Playing with wonderful virtuosity, Josefowicz commanded a part that scarcely rests and forms an almost constant aspect of the soundscape.”

(John Allison, The Daily Telegraph, July 2015)

“What would a Scheherazade for our own time be like? This work offers John Adams’ answer in the portrait of a beautiful, empowered and fearless woman confronting oppression. He described the brilliant Leila Josefowicz, for whom he wrote this work in a commission from the New York Philharmonic, as the embodiment of his heroine as a fearless and empowered artist. Long an Adams champion, Ms Josefowicz gave a dazzling and inspired performance.”

(Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, March 2015)

“Josefowicz, for whom Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto was written, plays with confidence and fizzing energy”

(Andrew Morris, International Record Review, January 2013)