“…it was Kavakos’s miracles of fine shading that one took away from this performance, his stratospheric song blissfully duetting with celeste at the close of the slow movement like a fading memory”. Budapest Festival Orchestra / Ivan Fischer, BBC Proms. Independent, Aug 2009
Leonidas Kavakos has established himself as a violinist and artist of rare quality, known at the highest level for his virtuosity, superb musicianship and the integrity of his playing. International recognition came whilst Kavakos was still in his teens. He won the Sibelius competition in 1985 and then the Paganini competition in 1988 and following these successes, he was invited by orchestras across Europe, North America and the Far East and his reputation soared.
Kavakos is now one of the world’s most highly regarded and sought after violinists and has established close relationships with many of the greatest orchestras and conductors. He also regularly visits the major international festivals with visiting orchestras, in chamber music and in recital.
In the current seasons, Kavakos appears as soloist with the Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, La Scala Filharmonica, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Tonhalle Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He works with such conductors as Pierre Boulez, Ricardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Iván Fischer, Alan Gilbert, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Paavo Jarvi, Zubin Mehta, Anthony Pappano, Christian Thielemann and Osmo Vänskä.
Leonidas Kavakos is also increasingly recognised as a conductor of considerable gift and musicianship. From October 2007 until September 2009, Kavakos was Artistic Director of the Camerata Salzburg, having been the orchestra’s Principal Guest Artist from 2002. He has also conducted the La Scala Filharmonica and St Louis SO and will be appearing as conductor or conductor/violinist with the Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Budapest FO, Houston SO, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Rotterdam, PO and the Maggio Musicale.
Kavakos’ many distinguished chamber music partners include Gautier and Renaud Capuçon, Natalia Gutman, Emanuel Ax, Helene Grimaud, Nicholas Angelich, Nickolai Luganzki, Elisabeth Leonskaya and Enrico Pace. He is invited widely as an artist in residence and will have a wide exposure as such in the next seasons, in November 2009 as Artist in Focus at London’s Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Tonhalle, Zurich. He is a regular and favoured artist at the Verbier Festival.
Kavakos has a distinguished catalogue of recordings. Together with the Camerata Salzburg, he has recorded live on Sony Mozart’s five violin concerti and the E flat major symphony and, more recently, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto coupled with the Mendelssohn piano trios with Enrico Pace and Patrick Demenga. This recording was recently named ECHO Klassik Best Concerto Recording of 19th Century Work.
In 1991, he won the Gramophone Award for the first recording ever of the original version of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto (1903/04) on BIS. On ECM, he has released a recording of sonatas by Enescu and Ravel together with pianist Péter Nagy and a recording of works by Bach and Stravinsky: "...the exquisite tenderness of the playing gives the music a sense of timeless, poignant beauty…” (Gramophone, May 2005).
Leonidas Kavakos plays the 'Falmouth' Stradivarius of 1692 and a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini of 1782 (Torino).
Leonidas Kavakos is represented by Jessica Ford at Intermusica, jford@intermusica.co.uk.
December 2009 / 573 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
CONTENTS
CONCERT REVIEWS
New York Philharmonic with Valery Gergiev / Stravinsky Violin Concerto
“Kavakos brought to Stravinsky’s continuously active, asymmetric rhythms a sense of line and a stringing articulation, which were a joy to hear. The audience responded heartily and as an encore he offered the Sarabande from Bach’s Partita No.2.”
The Strad, July 2010
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Ingo Metzmacher / Beethoven Violin Concerto
“Beethoven’s violin concerto was treated to a radical interpretation. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos slowed down the tempi, and examined the piece as if under a microscope. It was his idea to have the initial timpani solo played with bare hands rather than sticks. Avoiding any sharp-edged phrasing, the lush formation of the orchestra created a traditional Beethoven sound, yet Kavakos’ crystal-clear, lyrical tone ensured that the performance was far from consumerist easy-listening… its warm tone, at times pared down to the thinnest thread, was perfectly matched to the innermost feelings of the music.”
Berliner Zeitung, March 2010
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, with Zubin Mehta, Berlin
“…The Greek virtuoso violinist Leonidas Kavakos created what was quite possibly the most beautiful violin tone imaginable. Especially in the piano phrases, his tone shimmered like white gold. Kavakos’ interpretation of the Beethoven concerto demonstrated the close ties between Classical composition and the realm of Romanticism. He seemed to be lost in a daydream rather than consciously performing, a virtuoso whose world had become a dream: in love with his own sound, narcissistic yet at the same time loved by the audience…“
Der Tagesspiegel, December 2009
"…The evening ended with Beethoven’s violin concerto, a guaranteed success in any programme. It was performed by the imposing Leonidas Kavakos on a Stradivarius, dwarfed by his hands, with a wonderful tone and ecstatic pianissimi, sounding as out of this world as a love poem should. Even if the audience had wanted more virtuoso fireworks at the beginning, they were amply compensated by Fritz Kreisler’s unsurpassed cadenzas, delivered by Kavakos in an unbeatable, masterly style“
Berliner Morgenpost, December 2009
Artist in Focus series / Southbank Centre, London / 25 November to 1 December 2009
Trios with Gautier Capuçon, Nikolai Luganski and Antoine Tamestit / Tchaikovsky, Schnittke & Shchedrin
“From the moment that Capuçon launched into the elegiac opening melody [of Tchaikovsky's A minor Piano Trio] – with breathtaking presence, and Kavakos responding with equal vehemence – the larger-than-life character of the performance was assured.
The playing of all three was fabulously assured…wonderfully communicative."
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, December 2009
“Quite simply one of those rare performances that make you forget you are there to write an objective appraisal. Stonking.”
Edward Seckerson, The Independent, December 2009
Recital with Nicholas Angelich / Bach, Schumann, Bartok & Enescu
“There are times when Leonidas Kavakos… does not seem quite human. Surely, no flesh-and-blood violinist can centre his fingers on the strings so steadily, with no hint of a wobble. Surely it’s beyond our ken to scale down the volume to a ghostly whisper and yet produce sounds with colour and character. Or be able to dispatch Bach’s big solo chaconne as casually as you might comb your hair, with no sweat on the brow… the Greek violinist caused jaws to drop with his extreme subtlety and near-impossible technical sheen.”
Geoff Brown, The Times, December 2009
“Technically, Leonidas Kavakos showed himself to be one of the finest violinists in the world today, in terms of intonation, phrasing, chording, gradations of dynamics and a command of the varied musical structures running through this programme.
Kavakos raised it [Schumann Second Violin Sonata] to the level of a neglected masterpiece. This was a reading of the finest quality, the interpretative gifts of this artist proving once and for all that the received opinion regarding Schumann’s late works is at times downright wrong.
Kavakos and his partner were beyond praise or criticism: theirs was a great performance of a wonderful and original masterpiece.”
Classical Source, November, 2009
Camerata Salzburg / Bach, Lutaslowski & Mozart
“His incipient conducting career (this was the first time I had seen him on the podium) seemed impressive. He moves well and naturally. His directions are clear and pertinent.
Kavakos allowed and encouraged the darting thematic and rhythmic charges to push through the orchestra from the double basses up like an emboldened mob in the Allegro spiritoso [Mozart ‘Linz’ Symphony] and seemed to make a noticeable virtue of the dark coloration in the coda of that same movement.
That the young orchestra could deal with colour, ensemble, balance and dynamic was clear. There was just one last test for Kavakos. Structure. Could he shape over time? As I pondered this thought, the exhilarating airborne last movement that had been darting through clouds and squalls suddenly delivered a final perfectly judged kick of the heels. A-plus, Mr Kavakos.”
Igor Toronyi-Lalic, The Arts Desk, November 2009
London Philharmonic Orchestra with Vladimir Jurowski / Berg Violin Concerto
“Kavakos's violin-playing has always been astoundingly virtuosic and blazingly insightful… if his ideas inspire his playing, I'm happy to admit Kavakos to the pantheon of musician-philosophers."
Tom Service, The Guardian, November 2009
“Leonidas Kavakos [was] at one with the orchestra in the Allegro's intricate accompanied cadenza… The closing Adagio was finely paced, its Bach allusions pointedly but never too insistently brought out.”
Classical Source, November, 2009
Recital with Péter Nagy, Kimmel Centre, Philadelphia, USA
"In violinist terms, his hands ought to be insured for millions - they're priceless. But the mind behind it all played Bach's unaccompanied "Chaconne" from the Partita in D minor with such keen structural perception that each microsection emerged with its own subtle character and particular brand of rhythmic continuity. And though the piece - a monument in the violin literature - is usually positioned as a concert climax, he started his Philadelphia Chamber Music Society program at this high peak without any danger of the rest being a letdown.
Kavakos' Greekness felt evident in Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. 25 by George Enescu - a feast of color and theatrical gestures in music for any accomplished violinist. But with Kavakos, it became a complete, mesmerizing sound world that perhaps even the composer (a great violinist whose few recordings include Schumann's Op. 121) couldn't have put across to this consummate degree."
The Philadelphia Enquirer, October 2009
Seattle Symphony Orchestra / Gerard Schwarz, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, USA
"Kavakos ranks among the greatest instrumentalists of our time. Equipped with a formidable technique, the charismatic Greek drew from his 1782 Guadagnini violin a tone at once pure, warm and voluminous, seeming to sail effortlessly through the richest orchestral textures... While throwing off the virtuoso passage work with thrilling brilliance, he yet fully realized all the elegance and nobility he has said he finds in the piece."
The Seattle Times, October 2009
London Symphony Orchestra / Gergiev, The Barbican, London
"Leonidas Kavakos had the full measure of these contrasting and shifting perspectives, the faster, fiercer passages effortlessly negotiated, the third movement delicately and poignantly rendered."
Andrew Maisel, Classical Source, September 2009
"The 93-year-old composer was in the audience to hear Leonidas Kavakos bring the violin part alive, weaving its birdlike narration through the dark, enchanted canopy of the orchestra with a soulfulness that was absolutely compelling."
Erica Jeal, The Guardian, September 2009
Prom 44: Budapest Festival Orchestra/ Fischer, Royal Albert Hall, London
“Primary colours were again muted in the beautiful performance of Bartok’s Second Violin Concerto which followed. It was as if the soloist, Leonidas Kavakos, and conductor, Ivan Fischer, were at all times mindful that one of Bartok’s favourite composers was Strauss. Romantic reverie was the key here in a reading which felt forever poised on the edge of dreams. Kavakos took his cue from the strumming harp, lyre-like at the start, lending the rapt opening theme an air of ancient fable. Feverish dances jolted us back to reality with smouldering trills and fiery arpeggios reminding us exactly where we were – deep in the Hungarian heartlands. But it was Kavakos’s miracles of fine shading that one took away from this performance, his stratospheric song blissfully duetting with celeste at the close of the slow movement like a fading memory.”
The Independent, August 2009
New York Philharmonic with David Robertson / Bartok Concerto No.2
“Kavakos conveyed the rhapsodic flights, endless variety and subtle blend of folkloric tunes with modernistic wildness … He dispatched the virtuosic challenges with a cool command and paradoxically enhanced the bravura excitement … this performance roused the audience to a long ovation.”
New York Times, October 2008
London Symphony Orchestra with Valery Gergiev / Prokofiev Concerto No.1
“Kavakos wove a silver thread of sound around the woodwind voices, the very stuff of fairy tales. There were malevolent contrasts, too, with beasts for every beauty, and Kavakos unlocked those with a fantastic range of gruesome colours and wicked articulation. With the closing trills, fairy dust settled over us.”
The Independent, October 2008
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RECORDING REVIEWS
Camerata Salzburg, Enrico Pace & Patrick Demenga / Mendelssohn Violin Concerto & piano trios (Sony Classical)
“This is the first release in Mendelssohn year to have come my way that truly adds to the festivities. Kavakos offers a compelling, unsugary reading of the Concerto (where, for a change, you sense the legacy of Beethoven as much as anyone). But lack of heart-on-sleeve isn’t to suggest in any way a lack of expression: quite the reverse – how Kavakos revels in those moments of introspection, the violin looking down from way, way up in the stratosphere. There’s plenty of fine detail, too, both in the solo part and the orchestra, but there’s always a sense of it arising out of the music; Mutter by comparison sounds very premeditated. The Camerata’s playing is an additional delight, creating an intimate rapport with the soloist.
In lesser hands, Kavakos’s moderate tempo for the slow movement might threaten to drag, but – as Hilary Hahn has previously shown – if the interpretation is sufficiently interesting, it can still convince, even though for my taste the slightly swifter Hope is better still. The finale is less an explosion of exuberance than Hope’s, but Kavakos’s filigree lightness bodes well for the chamber music and the climactic build-up is utterly life-enhancing.
The trios are on a similar level, with Kavakos joined by two superb musicians. It’s striking in the second movement of the D minor Trio that they observe Mendelssohn’s detached markings – unlike many who can’t resist the temptation to swoon here. And the Trio of the same work is a relief after the caution of the Mutter recording, the pianist Enrico Pace almost giving Jonathan Gilad (with Fischer and Muller-Schott) a run for his money.
If there’s less mystery about the C minor’s opening that revealed by Fischer et al, then the slow movement is beautifully poised and the finale justifiably exultant.”
Editor’s Choice, Gramophone, October 2009
“Leonidas Kavakos plays the work with unusual nervous tension, not as a weakness but as a conscious decision as to what can lie in the music. His thin, clear, sweet tone suits this approach and is cleanly recorded so that it balances well with an exceptionally lucid orchestral recording. All the same, there are losses, in that Mendelssohn’s lines here are long, even by his most lyrical standards, and need the kind of broad, relaxed sweep that many of the countless violinists who have recorded the work bring to it. This approach, though, does prepare Kavakos for the sense of pathos he finds in the Andante, in which there is a stronger element of a feature of his phrasing in the opening movement, namely a tendency to over-stress the parts of a long phrase rather than take the line as a whole with inner emphases. This works best in the short Allegretto linking the music to the finale, which is lively and played with firm attack.
These are outstanding performances by all three players, and if issued on their own might well be candidates for being judged Outstanding.”
International Record Review, September 2009
"There are over 60 recordings of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in the catalogue, but this version from Greek virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos certainly stands out among them. This is not the drooping, chastely melancholy concerto portrayed by some players like Viktoria Mullova, this is a virile, full-blooded piece. The fleet-footed dance of the finale has fire as well as grace, and the slow movement has numerous tiny inflections of tempo and phrasing which imbue the melody with urgent feeling.
Kavakos also directs his own Camerata Salzburg orchestra, which is alert to his every twist and turn. The concerto is coupled with Mendelssohn’s trios for piano, violin and cello, and if anything these are even more impressive. Pianist Enrico Pace is fabulously fleet-fingered in the scherzos, but again a deeper, weightier Mendelssohn is revealed, beyond salon grace and elfin lightness. The players even managed to make the saccharine slow movement of the First Trio seem genuinely moving."
The Telegraph, August 2009
“As a violinist whose dazzling virtuosity is rooted in the deepest musicianship, Leonidas Kavakos has few equals when it comes to the concertos of the early 20th century”
Sunday Telegraph, August 2009
“...as both soloist and conductor, Kavakos clearly generates a real rapport with the players. His account of one of the most hackneyed works in the violinist's repertoire achieves the near impossible of sounding fresh and original - there's an urgency and nervous energy about Kavakos's playing that's vividly communicated to the orchestra.”
The Guardian, August 2009
"The quality fibre of this serious artist is immediately on show in his violin’s opening statement, with its finely spun tone and scrupulously enunciated rhythms. He keeps his interpretation fresh and personal as Mendelssohn leads him from turbulent passion through liquid song to the finale’s delicate sparkle. The orchestra is a good partner, too.
Deluged with performances in this centenary year, I was beginning to think I never wanted to hear the work again. Kavakos’s interpretation showed me I was wrong."
The Times, July 2009
“The tonal and intonational purity of Kavakos’s playing in the Concerto is magically beguiling, capturing the elfin-like quality of Mendelssohn’s deft scoring to perfection. The guiding hands of a conductor might have paid even greater dividends, but such is the flawless quality of Kavakos’s virtuosity that this is hardly a major issue. The performances of the piano trios are gloriously uninhibited, their bold projection and expressive abandon being more suggestive of a concert hall than an intimate chamber room.”
Classic FM Magazine, June 2009
“Leonidas Kavakos plays the opening movement of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with restraint and intelligent musicality, cultivating purity of line and a wide expressive range… He is sentimental but never cloying in the Andante, playing its conclusion with striking freedom, and he skirts the danger with thrilling abandon in the finale.
Kavakos interacts commendably with the orchestra and seems to have power in reserve…
Remaining loyal to Mendelssohn for his couplings, Kavakos shows that he is equally at home in the chamber sphere. His partnership with pianist Enrico Pace and cellist Patrick Demenga spawns expressive, technically accomplished and passionately committed readings of the composer’s two piano trios. These players capture the mood contrasts of the outer movements, the lyricism of the andantes and the lightness of the scherzos with skill and artistry. The recording is exemplary.”
The Strad, June 2009
“Leonidas Kavakos captivated the listener right from the first few bars of Mendelssohn’s violin concerto. The violinist allowed the inner tension and the forward drive of the theme to develop quite naturally.
This isn’t to say that Kavakos didn’t convey the charm of this violin concerto … For example, in the second movement his hovering, heartfelt sound was enchanting, and opened the way into a world filled with beauty and peace.
Kavakos’ virtuosity became apparent in the third movement, with his masterly ability to infuse life into the music through subtle dynamic changes. The Camerata Salzburg, which he led from the violin, adapted perfectly to the risks that he took. It was obvious that these musicians have worked together intensely over a long period of time, and that they share the same approach to Mendelssohn.
Leonidas Kavakos also chose extremely compatible partners for the piano trios, opus 49 and opus 66: cellist Patrick Demenga and pianist Enrico Pace.
Their meticulous, detailed work was not in the least forced, rather completely natural. None of the three sought to dominate; the principal themes were passed from one musician to another as a matter of course, and merged beautifully into each other. This was chamber music of the highest standard.”
NDR Info, February 2009
Leonidas Kavakos, Camerata Salzburg
Mozart Violin Concertos Nos 1-5, Symphony in E flat, K543 (Sony Classical)
“Kavakos presides over the performances as conductor and soloist. He sets the tone for his interpretations in a buoyant but graceful account of the concerto No.1. The violinist refines his tone to a slender thread of beautifully focused tone. His playing is as refined as the sound of his violin. Kavakos has a phenomenal control of his instrument; every rapid figuration is articulated with remarkable clarity.”
Courier-Post, April 2007
“Kavakos has just been appointed Artistic Director of the Camerata Salzburg, and this set of the violin concertos, recorded live, seals the relationship in style. Kavakos may be a virtuoso, but his musical treatment of the two masterpieces, Nos 4 and 5, is masterly, his “singing” legato a consistent pleasure. There is great variety in his dynamics and his direction of the band strikes an excellent balance with the exquisite wind solos. A grand account of the great E flat major symphony suggests he will be as formidable a director of this superb chamber orchestra as he is a soloist.”
The Sunday Times, September 2006
Leonidas Kavakos, Péter Nagy, piano
Stravinsky & Bach (ECM Records)
“…in the Courante’s Double he wrests the torrent of notes into long, shapely phrases, erecting a structure of impressive breadth and integrity. Equally stunning is the lucidity of the counterpoint in the fugue of the G minor Sonata; each line emerges sharply etched, and Kavakos takes unusual care in balancing the voice (rarely have I heard such delicate double stopping).”
Gramophone, May 2005
“Stravinsky rarely wrote for the violin …in the hands of Leonidas Kavakos and his empathetic partner Péter Nagy, these works become pure gold. Kavakos achieves the delicate balance needed between complete accuracy and a songful, brilliant, sensuous and glistening tone. The dialogue between the Bach Solo Partita and Sonata No. 1 is more than a bridge across time: it is a dramatic exchange.”
Salzburger Nachrichten, March 2005
“The Greek virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos turns his instrument into something more than a violin. Together with pianist Péter Nagy he creates a whole universe with an atmosphere which few can imagine.”
Classic FM Magazine, March 2005
“…the performances are wonderful, and the recording is warm … the violinist Kavakos and the pianist Nagy protect its impassioned ascending arch with perfect control…”
The Times, February 2005
Leonidas Kavakos, Péter Nagy, piano
Ravel & Enescu (ECM Records)
“The playing’s the thing, and it is spectacular. Kavakos’ virtuosity is stunning but not showy. He tosses off the most hair-raising pyrotechnics and sound effects, even an imitation of birds, with ease and relish. His tone is gorgeous: dark, pure, intense, focused, variable with bow and vibrato. Playing with passion and floating delicacy, he identifies naturally with the music’s idiomatic rhythms, harmonies, and character. This must be one of the best performances of the Tzigane on record.”
Strings, March 2004
“… there could hardly be a better guide to these pieces than the superb Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos”
Editor’s Choice, Gramophone Magazine, February 2004
“Leonidas Kavakos and Péter Nagy treat Ravel’s apprentice opus with considerable respect, relishing its many opportunities for sensuous harmonic indulgence, but without sacrificing a necessary sense of forward momentum. In the much better-known Tzigane, it’s refreshing to find Kavakos carefully building up a sense of anticipation in the long opening solo, rather than opting for the more conventional full-frontal assault.
The two performers deliver a stunningly demonic account of the finale of Enescu’s Third Sonata, but also capture a real sense of mystery in the slow movement.”
Performance 5 stars, sound 5 stars, BBC Music Magazine, February 2004
“As a classical musician with a background in folk music, Kavakos gives soaring, limpid performances, not without schmaltz where appropriate. The sunny edge of his playing provides an immediacy usually pervasive in Enescu but here extended to Ravel. Kavakos sounds like two violinists at once during gritty solo passages in Tzigane. In Enescu’s sonata he uncovers a more reserved folk-music element ingrained within.”
Time Out, New York, December 2003
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