Leonidas Kavakos, violin

Recognized around the world as a musician of matchless technique, superb musicianship, and captivating artistry, violinist Leonidas Kavakos will present J.S. Bach’s Six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin on two successive evenings.

These celebrated works have tested the mettle of every great violinist in history with their unprecedented technical demands, and make the ideal vehicle for Kavakos, a player of keen intelligence and considerable fire. His recent recording of Bach’s scores, made during the pandemic, was released in 2022 to rave reviews.

Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas inhabit two distinct worlds; the three Sonatas have four movements each, the typical slow-fast-slow-fast pattern of the Italian sonata da chiesa, while the Partitas are collections of stylized baroque dances, such as the allemande courante, sarabande, and gigue. In all of them, Bach creates sound worlds of multi-voiced textures fuller than anyone thought possible on the violin.

ABOUT LEONIDAS KAVAKOS

Leonidas Kavakos is regarded with the highest esteem by both audiences and his peers, He performs regularly with the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors around the world and is a frequent collaborator with the likes of Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Yuja Wang, and Steven Isserlis. In recent years, Kavakos has begun a conducting sideline as well, including a notable appearance with the Minnesota Orchestra in May 2023 as both conductor and soloist. This rare opportunity to hear Bach’s solo violin works—written circa 1720—played by Leonidas Kavakos on the ‘Willemotte’ Stradivarius violin of 1734 is not to be missed.