Leila Josefowicz
violin
Leila Josefowicz’s passionate advocacy of contemporary music for the violin is reflected in her diverse programs and enthusiasm for performing new works. A favorite of living composers, Josefowicz has premiered many concertos, including those by Colin Matthews, Luca Francesconi, John Adams and Esa-Pekka Salonen, all written especially for her.
Josefowicz’s 2024-25 season includes performances of Luca Francesconi’s Duende—The Dark Notes with New York Philharmonic and Susanna Malkki, as well as the British premiere of Helen Grime’s Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo at the Aldeburgh Festival. Further engagements include concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, and the Houston, San Diego, KBS, Singapore, City of Birmingham, Prague and BBC symphony orchestras. Highlights of recent seasons include appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Royal Concertgebouworkest and Konzerthausorchester Berlin; the London, Oslo, Helsinki and Los Angeles philharmonic orchestras; and the NDR Elbphilharmonie, Chicago, San Francisco, Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, where she worked with conductors at the highest level, including Paavo Järvi, Matthias Pintscher, John Storgårds, Cristian Măcelaru, Thomas Søndergård, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Dalia Stasevska, Hannu Lintu and John Adams.
Josefowicz enjoyed a close working relationship with the late Oliver Knussen, performing various concerti, including his violin concerto, together over 30 times. Other premieres have included Matthias Pintscher’s Assonanza with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, John Adams’ Scheherazade.2 with the New York Philharmonic, Luca Francesconi’s Duende—The Dark Notes with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Steven Mackey’s Beautiful Passing with the BBC Philharmonic.
Together with John Novacek, with whom she has enjoyed a close collaboration since 1985, Josefowicz has performed recitals at world-renowned venues such as New York’s Zankel Hall and Park Avenue Armory, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, as well as in Reykjavik, Trento, Bilbao and Chicago. This season, their collaboration continues with a return to London’s Wigmore Hall, performing the world premiere of Charlotte Bray’s new commission Mriya. Other chamber collaborators for 2024-25 include Alexei Tartakovsky at Newport Classical and Paul Watkins, with whom she will premiere a new violin/cello work by Sean Shepherd at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Chamber Music Northwest.
Josefowicz has released several recordings, notably for Deutsche Grammophon, Philips/Universal and Warner Classics, and was featured on Touch Press’ acclaimed iPad app, The Orchestra. Her latest recording, released in 2019, features Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Violin Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu. She has previously received nominations for Grammy Awards for her recordings of Scheherazade.2 with the St. Louis Symphony conducted by David Robertson, and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer.
In recognition of her outstanding achievement and excellence in music, Josefowicz won the 2018 Avery Fisher Prize and was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2008, joining prominent scientists, writers and musicians who have made unique contributions to contemporary life.