Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s focus is to get to the heart of the music, to its meaning for us - now and here. With a combination of depth, brilliance and humour, Kopatchinskaja brings an inimitable sense of theatrics to her music. Described by The New York Times "a player of rare expressive energy and disarming informality, of whimsy and theatrical ambition", Kopatchinskaja’s distinctive approach always conveys the core of the work, whether it is with an out-of-the-box performance of a traditional violin repertoire classic or with an original staged project she presents as experimental performance dramaturge.
Her absolute priority is music of the 20th and 21st century and the collaboration with living composers such as Luca Francesconi, Michael Hersch, György Kurtág, Márton Illés, Esa-Pekka Salonen. Kopatchinskaja directs staged concerts at venues on both sides of the Atlantic and collaborates with leading orchestras, conductors, and festivals worldwide. Following the international success of her previous collaboration with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra - Bye Bye Beethoven - Patricia Kopatchinskaja returned for the premiere performances of a new concert staging with the ensemble - Les Adieux - a project confronting the rapid deterioration of the environment and the loss of the natural world. Kopatchinskaja’s other projects explore music staged through contemporary contexts, such as "Dies Irae", another musical reflection on the the growing environmental crisis. She bought this production to Glasgow during the global COP26 summit. Kopatchinskaja also performs as a vocal artist in Ligeti’s Mystères du macabre or Schönberg’s "Pierrot lunaire" where she takes on the role of the Pierrot himself, also in her project presenting Kurt Schwitters’ poem "Ursonate" as a film in the style of Dada. Following its recent showcase at the Berliner Philharmonie and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Ursonate will be shown at the Sprengel Museum Hannover, home to the Kurt and Ernst Schwitters Foundation, to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Kurt Schwitters‘ death.
Kopatchinskaja’s discography includes over 30 recordings, among them GRAMMY award-winning "Death and the Maiden" with Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, a project which was also re-created as a semi-staged filmed performance with Camerata Bern, premiered on HarrisonParrott’s digital platform Virtual Circle. Recent CD releases season included "Les Plaisirs Illuminés" with Sol Gabetta and Camerata Bern, which was saluted with a BBC Music Magazine award and "Le monde selon George Antheil" with Joonas Ahonen (both on Alpha Classics).
Kopatchinskaja is a humanitarian ambassador for Terre des Hommes, the leading Swiss child relief agency and was awarded the Swiss Grand Award for Music by the Federal Office of Culture for Switzerland in 2017