The Royal Philharmonic Society revealed Patricia Kopatchinskaja as its Instrumentalist of the Year at a ceremony in London on 13 May.

The prize – amongst the most prestigious in the music industry — is given for outstanding live performance in the UK in 2013. In announcing the winner, the RPS described Kopatchinskaja as an ​“irresistible force of nature: passionate, challenging and totally original in her approach.”

Kopatchinskaja accepted her award in a short speech and performance on video; she said: ​“This prize is very special for me because it is given by musicians, and given for live performance [which is] the essence of music… when we can take risks, and can create in the moment.”

Kopatchinskaja had been shortlisted for the award alongside pianist Nikolai Lugansky and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani. Recent winners in the category include Maurizio Pollini, Stephen Hough and Janine Jansen.

2013 was a highly successful year for Kopatchinskaja — her Naïve recording of Hungarian concertos with Peter Eötvös was chosen as Gramophone’s Recording of the Year and was also GRAMMY-nominated. Her follow-up disc of concertos by Prokofiev and Stravinsky with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski was released last autumn to considerable acclaim. The partnership will work together again in August, at the Edinburgh International Festival.