Leonidas Kavakos

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Leonidas Kavakos
Born (1967-10-30) 30 October 1967 (age 56)
Athens, Greece
Occupations
  • Violinist
  • Conductor

Leonidas Kavakos (

Sony/BMG and BIS. As a conductor, he was an artistic director of the Camerata Salzburg and has been a guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra.[1][2]

Beginnings

Born in

Indianapolis International Violin Competition. He also took first prizes at the Naumburg Competition in New York (1988) and the Paganini Violin Competition
(1988).

Performances

North America

His United States debut was in 1986, and, in the following year, he gave recitals at venues across the country. Kavakos now tours North America annually and works with numerous major orchestras, including the Chicago, and Montreal Symphony Orchestras.

Europe

In Europe, following his competition win in

BBC Proms
.

Asia

Kavakos made a highly successful Japanese debut in 1988 including a recital at Tokyo's Casals Hall and has since toured Japan with the English Chamber Orchestra and given concerts with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the New Japan Philharmonic.

He was called "The Violinists' Violinist"[5] by The Strad magazine.

In 2014, he was invited to perform in the 42nd Hong Kong Arts Festival.[6]

Recordings

Having won the Sibelius Competition, Kavakos went on to win another coveted distinction, once again working on Sibelius. He won the 1991 Gramophone Concerto of the Year Award for the world premiere release on the BIS label of the Sibelius Violin Concerto in both its final version and in the original 1903/04 version. He has made various other recordings for Delos and Finlandia Records with works by composers such as Debussy, Paganini, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Wieniawski, and Ysaÿe. In 2006 as soloist and

conductor of the Camerata Salzburg, he recorded the five violin concertos and one symphony by Mozart for Sony/BMG. For his recording as conductor and soloist of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto (Op. 64) with the Camerata, he was awarded with the ECHO-Klassik 2009 prize in the category "Recording of the Year – Concerts – 19th Century – Violin".[7]

Chamber music

Kavakos is a keen chamber music performer, and presents his own chamber music festival annually in his home town of Athens as well as performing in many international festivals.[citation needed]

Conducting

Kavakos has worked extensively as a conductor. He was announced principal guest artist of the Camerata Salzburg in 2001 and performed with them as a soloist and conductor.

In 2007, he was designated Camerata Salzburg's artistic director, succeeding Sir Roger Norrington.[8] On 1 July 2009, he announced his resignation from his position as artistic director that fall, explaining that he could not perform as artistic director in the face of ongoing turmoil in the ensemble's management (seven complete changes in eight years), a recent motion of no confidence in the current management passed by the ensemble's musicians, as well as the failure of musicians & staff to inform him of that vote, suggesting communication had completely broken down.[9]

Kavakos has conducted the New York Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Gürzenich Orchester, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Filarmonica Teatro La Fenice, and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. [10]

Instruments

As of 2017, Kavakos performs on the "Willemotte" Stradivarius of 1734, which he acquired from London and New York-based dealer and expert, Florian Leonhard.[11] Kavakos had been playing the "Abergavenny" Stradivarius of 1724 since February 2010. He sold the "Falmouth" Stradivarius of 1692, and a 1782 violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (Torino). Kavakos now owns only the Willemotte and three modern violins, including one, as of 4 September 2010, by Florian Leonhard.

Recent albums

Year Title Collaborators
2017 Brahms: The Piano Trios[12] Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax
2019 Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Op. 61, Septet, Op. 20 & Variations on Folk Songs, Op. 105 & 107[13] Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
2020 Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70, TH 118 (Live from the 2013 Verbier Festival) Lisa Batiashvilii, Antoine Tamestit, Blythe The Engstroem, Gautier Capucon, Stephan Koncz
2022 Bach: Sei Solo [14]
2022 Beethoven for Three: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 [15] Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax

References

  1. ^ "The LSO Invites... Leonidas Kavakos". London Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  2. ^ Weininger, David (15 November 2013). "Greek violinist Kavakos takes to conducting". Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC. The Boston Globe. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  3. ^ Tsioulcas, Anastasia. "Playing With (Gypsy) Fire". greekworks.com. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  4. ^ "Artist - Leonidas Kavakos". Intermusica.co.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  5. ^ The Strad, January 2009, page 30
  6. ^ "Kavakos, Pace and Beethoven". Archived from the original on 11 July 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  7. ^ "Konzerteinspielung des Jahres - (19. Jahrhundert) Geige Leonidas Kavakos". Archived from the original on 26 August 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  8. ^ "Camerata Salzburg". Camerata Salzburg. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Leonidas Kavakos ist dahin". Archived from the original on 29 July 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
  10. ^ "Leonidas Kavakos | HK Phil". www.hkphil.org. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  11. ^ "Leonidas Kavakos acquires 1734 'Willemotte' Stradivarius violin". The Strad.
  12. ^ "Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma - Brahms: The Piano Trios Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  13. ^ "Leonidas Kavakos - Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Op. 61, Septet, Op. 20 & Variations on Folk Songs, Op. 105 & 107 | CD".
  14. ^ "Leonidas Kavakos - Bach: Sei Solo | CD".
  15. ^ "Yo-Yo Ma - Beethoven for Three: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5 | CD".

External links

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