Violinist Leila Josefowicz and British composer Oliver Knussen have been close friends since their first meeting nearly a decade ago. As part of the Kennedy Center’s weeklong Crosscurrents series, she performs his Violin Concerto and he conducts the National Symphony Orchestra, a surefire combination as their past collaborations with major orchestras prove. Josefowicz’s recording of the concerto for Deutsche Gramophone was performed at the London Proms with Knussen at the podium.
“This is one of the most dramatic and theatrical concertos ever written,” she says. “He wrote the very colorful and lyrical sections as if the violin is speaking in magnified theatrical expressions. He originally wrote it for Pinchas Zukerman, who is famous for gorgeous sound and a good sense of drama.
“The concerto is part of me, one of the first pieces I fell in love with. Oliver’s a romantic who constructs his works like all great composers do, in a very concise and inevitable way.”
Josefowicz came from a musical family, but credits her choice of a career to her own love of music and eagerness to practice from the outset of her Suzuki lessons. She laughingly describes her success as a dream come true for parents. Even though they instigated the lessons, her passion for the instrument and sense of direction transcended the barriers that prevent many music students from forging international careers. She credits her teachers at Curtis Institute of Music with providing a variety of perspectives and ways of thinking.
Josefowicz’s passion for new music pairs her often with composers such as Knussen, John Adams, Thomas Adès, Steve Mackey, Collin Matthews and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In each collaboration, she contributes inspiration and helps shape the direction of the piece. She recently debuted a concerto Salonen wrote for her with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in September will debut one composed by Matthews with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
In recognition of her contributions to performance and enabling audiences to understand and enjoy new creative works, she was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Foundation fellowship in September 2008.
“It came as an early morning telephone call and seemed surreal,” she says. “It was the most exciting and rewarding event of my life to feel appreciated for exactly what I’m doing. It will allow me time to devote myself to championing contemporary music and give me more confidence and clarity in my choices.”
Following the Thursday concert, Josefowicz will join Maestro Knussen and Nigel Boon, the NSO director of artistic planning, in an AfterWords discussion about the program of works by British composers Knussen and Julian Anderson and American composers Augusta Read Thomas and Gunther Schuller, whose “Of Reminiscences and Reflections” won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in Music. The series closes Sunday with Knussen conducting three D.C. premieres, among them his own “Requiem — Songs for Sue.”
“I want to create sounds and feelings in new music that people haven’t heard before,“ Josefowicz says. “I really enjoy winning them over with music I love by giving them a theater experience and helping them love it, too.”
If you go
Violinist Leila Josefowicz performs Oliver Knussen’s Violin Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra, Knussen conducting, part of the Crosscurrents series for the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts.
Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall, 2700 F St. NW
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Info: $20 to $80; 202-467-4600, 800-444-1324, kennedy-center.org
