Leila Josefowicz
Classically trained violinist Leila Josefowicz is a virtuoso with a sensitive touch. Her interpretation of the violin repertoire of yesterday and the emerging music of today has impressed the music world. She loves to hear the violin sing in new ways and collaborates frequently with composers who are creating new and vibrant music.
LEILA JOSEFOWICZ, violin
Ms. Josefowicz came to national attention in 1994 when she made her Carnegie Hall debut performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. The performance was immediately followed by her debut recording of the Tchaikovsky and the Sibelius concertos for Philips Classics. Since that time, she has appeared with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras including the Boston and Chicago symphonies, Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Deutsches-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the NHK Symphony Orchestra and collaborated with such eminent conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Sanderling and Franz Welser-Moest among others.
Engagements in North America have included appearances with the St. Louis, Atlanta, Toronto, Detroit, Montreal, Houston, National, Dallas, Cincinnati and Vancouver symphonies, a tour with the Brandenburg Ensemble with concerts in Chicago, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and Carnegie Hall and recitals in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and at the Kennedy Center. Recent and upcoming performance highlights include debuts at the Ravinia Festival, with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Baltimore, Indianapolis and Seattle symphonies and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; an appearance at Carnegie Hall with the New York String Orchestra; a tour throughout the Far East with the Asian Youth Orchestra; and re-engagements with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the St. Louis, Toronto, Detroit, Dallas, Montréal and Milwaukee symphonies.
Equally in demand in Europe, her European schedule includes orchestral appearances in Vienna, Berlin, Zurich and in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov and the BBC Symphony with John Adams, as well as recitals at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and London's Wigmore Hall.
At the invitation of the Osaka Festival in 1995, Ms. Josefowicz's first tour to Japan included performances to sold-out halls in Tokyo and Osaka. In 1998 she returned to Asia performing in Korea, Japan and China, making her debut with the NHK Symphony and playing recitals in Beijing, Wuhan, Shenzen and Hong Kong. She has also appeared in Australia with the orchestras in Sydney, Adelaide and Tasmania.
An exclusive Philips Classics recording artist, Ms. Josefowicz's debut recording of Tchaikovsky and Sibelius with Sir Neville Marriner was followed in 1996 by her second disc, Solo, which features unaccompanied violin works by Bartók, Kreisler, Ysaÿe, Ernst and Paganini. Both releases were met with critical acclaim and each was awarded the Diapason d'Or prize. Bohemian Rhapsodies, a collection of virtuosic violin works with orchestra, For the End of Time with pianist John Novacek, and the Mendelssohn and Glazunov concertos with the Montréal Symphony, Charles Dutoit conducting. Her sixth CD for Philips/Universal, Americana, with pianist John Novacek, was released in October 2000, and a disc of the two Prokofiev violin concertos with the Montréal Symphony and Dutoit was released in the fall of 2001.
Leila Josefowicz has been featured on many television programs in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. At the age of 10, her performances on the NBC television special "America's Tribute to Bob Hope" brought her immediate recognition. Other appearances have included a PBS special "Evening at Pops" with John Williams and the Boston Pops, and the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. She has also performed at evenings honoring Leonard Bernstein and Sir Georg Solti.
Ms. Josefowicz is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Jaime Laredo and Jascha Brodsky. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1994, Leila Josefowicz performs on the 1739 "Ebersolt" Guarnerius del Gesù violin. She lives in Florida with her husband, conductor Kristjan Järvi, and their 2-year-old son Lukas.
