Who is Patricia Kopatchinskaja?
Patricia Kopatchinskaja is an Austrian-Moldo-Swiss violinist who, in another existence, might have been actor or a heavy metal star. A marmite musician – love her or hate her – she plays barefoot and weaves her way through performances, flouting musical convention with a playful sense of humour. Not everyone is won over by his extreme and unique dynamic renditions, or his tendency to favor spontaneity and emotional authenticity over surface polish. But genuine, it certainly is. She doesn’t look like anyone else.
When and where was Patricia Kopatchinskaja born and how old is she?
She was born in March 1977 in Chișinău, Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Moldova).
What is his background?
Born in Soviet times, she spent much of her childhood in the Moldovan countryside with her Romanian-speaking grandparents, while her folk musician parents – her mother was a violinist and her father a cimbalom player – toured with the State Folklore Ensemble of Moldova. . Music, she says, is an integral part of her early memories; even as a toddler, she was encouraged to make music for guests.
When did she start playing
Patricia Kopatchinskaja?
When she was six years old.
Where did she train?
First at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where her family moved when she was 13. At 21, she won a scholarship to study in Bern, Switzerland, where she still lives.
Does she have a family?
Yes, her husband is retired neurologist, former Swiss politician and amateur cellist Lukas Fierz. They have a 16 year old daughter.
What kind of music does Patricia Kopatchinskaja tendency to gamble?
Although she plays a lot of music from mozart, Beethoven and other big names, often with quite radical interpretations, she has a particular passion for unknown and contemporary music. Over the years, she has championed composers, including Schoenberg, Berg, WeberUstvolskaya, Ligeti, Kurtág, Michael Hersch, Heinz Holliger, Francisco Coll, Mauricio Sotelo and Martón Illés, to name a few. And she has even ventured beyond the violin in the service of the works she loves. Since 2017, she has performed the voice part of Schoenberg’s Lunar Pierrot several times, and in 2018 she teamed up with friends to make a film based on Kurt Schwitters’ Dadaist nonsense poem “Ursonate” written in 1932. The film was screened at several festivals.
Where can I hear it next?
At BBC Proms on Tuesday, August 2, when she performs Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor.
