Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Joonas Ahonen

In the first recital of her Artist Spotlight, charismatic, mould-defying violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja brings her fresh interpretations to Beethoven and 20th-century classics.

The Moldovan-Austrian violinist is utterly unique in the intensity and freedom of her musical communication. In Beethoven she meets a fellow revolutionary who describes human experience in all its power, from beauty and purity to anger and heartbreak. It’s all there in his Sonatas for Violin and Piano – a marriage of equals full of drama, passion and humour.

Only a hundred years separate Beethoven from Webern; he, Schoenberg and Feldman may sound different but they were just as radical as Beethoven and he would surely have understood the power of their music. ‘PatKop’ partners with Finnish pianist Joonas Ahonen, who specialises in both period performance and new music, in a programme that brings together the two ends of the spectrum. With their improvisatory flare and vivid imaginations, this music will sound thrillingly new.