Leila Josefowicz, a world-renowned violin star, to perform in Lithuania

For the first time, the world-renowned violinist Leila Josefowicz (Canada, USA) will come to Lithuania. On 19 October, the violin star will perform in a concert of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of renowned German conductor Peter Rundel. The concert will take place in the newly equipped LVSO Concert Hall in Vilnius. "The Los Angeles Times critic wrote of Leila Josefowicz that when she plays, "from time to time it is worth looking at the violinist's feet to see if they are off the ground". And when she "lands on the ground, she transforms herself into a stormy rocker" whose "virtuosity soars with waves of joyful energy".

Leila Josefowicz was born in Canada to a family of European immigrants, but moved with her parents to Los Angeles, USA, at an early age. She was considered a wunderkind, and started learning the violin at the age of three. At the age of thirteen, Leila began attending and later graduated from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with Jaime Laredo and Jascha Brodsky. By the time she was 16, she was already playing at New York's Carnegie Hall with the renowned Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields and the renowned conductor Sir Neville Marriner. In the same year she signed an exclusive contract with Philips Classics to record the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius Violin Concertos, followed by contracts with Warner Classics, Nonesuch Records and Deutsche Grammophon.At the age of 20, Leila began performing with some of the most renowned symphony orchestras in the USA, and her concert calendar soon became very busy, spanning North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and even New Zealand.

Both classical violin masterpieces and newly composed works, Leila has been invited to perform by some of the world's finest orchestras: The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and countless other great orchestras.

Leila Josefowicz is a passionate interpreter of the modern classics, and this passion is reflected in her concert programmes, which show her enthusiasm to bring something new to the audience every time. Leila stresses the importance of performance quality and impact: she believes that every performance should be special. It is therefore not surprising that Leila's new works are written by some of the most famous composers of our time, such as John Adams, Thomas Adès, Luca Francesconi and many others. In 2008-2009, she gave the world premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Violin Concerto, written especially for her, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, for which the composer won the prestigious Grawemeyer Prize. In 2014, Leila gave the world premiere of Luca Francesconi's Violin Concerto Duende, which won the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award. In 2015 she gave the world premiere of John Adams' dramatic symphony Scheherazade.2, specially composed for her, with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.  

Leila Josefowicz's current calendar includes performances with the renowned Berliner Philharmoniker, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Dresden Philharmonic and the Oslo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburg NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, famous US symphony orchestras and world-renowned conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Järvi, Susanna Mälkki, Louis Langrée, Hannu Lintu, John Storgårds, and John Adams himself. This season Leila accepted an invitation from Reykjavik's famous Harpa Concert Hall and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra to become Artist-in-Residence, where she performed under the baton of Daniel Bjarnason and Eva Ollikainen, and gave a solo recital.

2022 with the renowned Academy Of St. Leila Josefowicz recorded the album Bohemian Rhapsodies with the Academy of St Martin In The Fields, featuring popular concert violin works by Pablo de Sarasate, Camille Saint-Saëns, Henryk Wieniawski, Jules Massenet, Maurice Ravel and Ernest Chausson. Leila has also been nominated for several Grammy Awards: her interpretation of John Adams' Dramatic Symphony for Violin and Orchestra Scheherazade.2 on Warner Bros UK and Esa-Pekka Salonen's Violin Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer on Deutsche Grammophon have received excellent reviews. Leila has won various prizes and other awards, and in 2018 was awarded the highly prestigious Avery Fisher Prize in recognition of her outstanding cultural contributions and professional excellence.

Leila was considered a wunderkind as a child:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn8Eti9wtnc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbve_GkWNFA

Leila's encore at BBC Proms:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAiQdUQ7Lm4