Concerts with Jakub Hrůša and Patricia Kopatchinskaja
2 - 6 May 2022

Programme

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe is thrilled to work for the second time with Moldovan-Austrian violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and for the very first time with Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša. Together, they will travel to Italy and perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in Pistoia and Bologna.

The COE’s first project with Patricia happened in May 2016 when we gave six concerts together in Italy, Switzerland and France. Over just a couple of weeks, a strong connection developed between Patricia and the COE and, in Bordeaux, when one of the COE violinists was taken ill for the second half of the concert, Patricia offered to join the first violins, performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 as if she had always been part of the Orchestra. In her words, playing with the COE is “not just a dream, but a dream within a dream!”

Below, you can watch a short interview with Patricia about her first COE adventure, as well as a video of her incredible performance of the second movement of Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello with COE principal cellist Richard Lester at the Halle aux Grains in Toulouse on 12th may 2016 – even turning pages becomes part of the drama!

Interview with Patricia Kopatchinskaja about the COE (May 2016)

Second movement of Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello (Halle aux Grains, Toulouse, France, 12 May 2016)

 

Jakub Hrusa

Born in the Czech Republic, Jakub Hrůša is Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.

He is a frequent guest with many of the world’s greatest orchestras. Recent performing highlights include debuts with the Vienna Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, and NHK Symphony, to all of which he was immediately re-invited. In addition to his titled positions, he also enjoys close relationships with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony.

As a conductor of opera, he has been a regular guest with Glyndebourne Festival, conducting Vanessa, The Cunning Little Vixen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Carmen, The Turn of the Screw, Don Giovanni and La bohème, and serving as Music Director of Glyndebourne On Tour for three years. Elsewhere he has led productions for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Carmen), Vienna State Opera (The Makropulos Case), Zurich Opera (The Makropulos Case), and Opéra National de Paris (Rusalka).

His relationships with leading vocal and instrumental soloists have included collaborations in recent seasons with Behzod Abduraimov, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Lisa Batiashvili, Joshua Bell, Jonathan Biss, Yefim Bronfman, Rudolf Buchbinder, Renaud Capuçon, Isabelle Faust, Bernarda Fink, Martin Fröst, Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Sol Gabetta, Véronique Gens, Christian Gerhaher, Kirill Gerstein, Vadim Gluzman, Karen Gomyo, Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn, Barbara Hannigan, Alina Ibragimova, Janine Jansen, Karita Mattila, Leonidas Kavakos, Sergey Khachatryan, Denis Kozhukhin, Lang Lang, Igor Levit, Jan Lisiecki, Albrecht Mayer, Johannes Moser, Viktoria Mullova, Anne Sofie Mutter, Kristine Opolais, Stephanie d’Oustrac, Emmanuel Pahud, Olga Peretyatko, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Josef Špaček, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Daniil Trifonov, Simon Trpčeski, Mitsuko Uchida, Klaus Florian Vogt, Yuja Wang, Frank Peter Zimmermann and Nikolaj Znaider.

As a recording artist, recent releases have included Dvořák and Brahms Symphonies with Bamberg Symphony (Tudor), Suk’s Asrael Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony (BR Klassik), and Dvořák’s Requiem and Te Deum with the Czech Philharmonic (Decca). In 2020, two of his recordings – Dvořák and Martinů Piano Concertos with Ivo Kahánek and the Bamberg Symphony (Supraphon), and Vanessa from Glyndebourne (Opus Arte) – won BBC Music Magazine Awards.

Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where his teachers included Jiří Bělohlávek. He is currently President of the International Martinů Circle and The Dvořák Society, and was the inaugural recipient of the Sir Charles Mackerras Prize.

 

Looking back

Looking back…

It was a great pleasure for us to have the opportunity to work with Jakub for the first time and particularly with this repertoire. We learnt from Jakub that the strong connection which developed through the project had strong roots “I have learned so much about music through your concert recordings and your beautiful work over the past decades… I am who I am thanks to you. This is a very beautiful feeling to be here in this hall and to inspire each other so thank you!” From the first moments together, the Orchestra responded strongly to Jakub’s insightful and detailed approach during the rehearsal period, and with the Schumann symphony we were taken through a complex journey of suffering to healing and redemption which resulted in two thrilling performances. As ever it was extremely insightful and exciting to work with Patricia who always challenges us with the depth, brilliance and humour of her music-making. Additionally on this tour as composer she inspired us with her own cadenzas based on the lesser-known piano version of the violin concerto. In fact, one reviewer in Pistoia, who called the COE “splendid”, said that even just to hear these cadenzas was worth the concert ticket.

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