Leila Josefowicz
Encyclopedia
Leila Bronia Josefowicz is an American/Canadian classical violin
ist.
. When she was a young child her family moved to Los Angeles, California
where she started studying violin
at the age of three and a half using the Suzuki method
. Her father, physicist Jack Josefowicz, and mother, biologist Wendy Josefowicz, learned with her. At five, she started formal lessons with Idel Low. At eight she began studies with the distinguished violin teacher Robert Lipsett
at The Colburn School. Leila's parents, valuing a well-rounded education, felt it important that she stay in the public school system, rejecting home schooling, despite a very full schedule of music activities.
When Leila was 13 the Josefowiczes moved to Philadelphia so she could attend the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music
, where she studied with Jaime Laredo
, Jascha Brodsky
, Felix Galimir
and Joseph Gingold. Leila also attended the Julia R. Masterman School
in Philadelphia while at Curtis, completing a Bachelor of Music
degree and her High school diploma
in the same year.
While still in her teens, Josefowicz played with symphony orchestras in Europe, Asia and the USA, including Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Boston, Montreal and Toronto.
Josefowicz made her Carnegie Hall
debut in 1994 performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto
with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
.
The same year she signed an exclusive recording contract with Philips Classics, recording the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius
concertos. Other recordings followed on Warner Classics, Nonesuch Records
and Deutsche Grammophon
labels that include masterworks for solo violin, recital repertoire and the concertos of Romantic
and modern
composers.
Josefowicz has kept a busy international schedule as a soloist, performing regularly around the world including North and South America, Europe, Japan, China, New Zealand and Australia. She has a strong interest in jazz
, improvisation
, and new music.
Josefowicz is acclaimed for championing new compositions, including the works of John Adams, Oliver Knussen
and Thomas Adès
. In 2008-09, she performed the world premieres of concertos written for her by Esa-Pekka Salonen
with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
(April 2009); Steven Mackey
with the St. Louis Symphony (October 2008); and Colin Matthews
with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
(September 2009). During the 2010-11 concert season, Josefowicz continues to perform traditional masterworks and contemporary compositions, exposing audiences around the world to the aforementioned new violin concertos, with ensembles including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Salonen), New York City Ballet Orchestra (Salonen), St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (Adès), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Matthews), New World Symphony (Adès), Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Knussen), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (Mackey), Cleveland Orchestra (Adams), and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Adès).
Josefowicz is active internationally, and her recent and upcoming engagements in Europe also include appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the London, Munich and Czech Philharmonics, and the London Symphony; performances of the new Salonen concerto in Paris, Stockholm, Lisbon and Ferrara, Italy with the composer on the podium; and a fifth appearance at the London Proms.
Josefowicz received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1994. In 2007, she was named a USA Cummings Fellow, United States Artists
. Josefowicz is a 2008 MacArthur Fellow.
Josefowicz performs on a Guarnerius Del Gesù made in 1724.
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist.
Biography
Josefowicz was born in Missisauga, Ontario, CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. When she was a young child her family moved to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
where she started studying violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
at the age of three and a half using the Suzuki method
Suzuki method
The Suzuki method is a method of teaching music that emerged in the mid-20th century.-Background:The Suzuki Method was conceived in the mid-20th century by Shin'ichi Suzuki, a Japanese violinist who desired to bring beauty to the lives of children in his country after the devastation of World War II...
. Her father, physicist Jack Josefowicz, and mother, biologist Wendy Josefowicz, learned with her. At five, she started formal lessons with Idel Low. At eight she began studies with the distinguished violin teacher Robert Lipsett
Robert Lipsett
Robert C. Lipsett, birth name "Mister Lipsett" is a renowned violin teacher in Los Angeles, California. He holds the Jascha Heifetz Distinguished Violin Chair at the Colburn School of Performing Arts. He also serves on the faculty at the Aspen School of Music, the Colburn Conservatory and the...
at The Colburn School. Leila's parents, valuing a well-rounded education, felt it important that she stay in the public school system, rejecting home schooling, despite a very full schedule of music activities.
When Leila was 13 the Josefowiczes moved to Philadelphia so she could attend the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
, where she studied with Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo is a violinist and conductor. Currently the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, he began his musical career when he was five years old. In 1948 he came to North America and took lessons from Antonio DeGrass...
, Jascha Brodsky
Jascha Brodsky
Jascha Brodsky was a Russian-American violinist and teacher.Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Russian Empire, he began his violin studies with his violinist father at the age of six. He later studied at the conservatory in Tbilisi, Georgia, and by 1926, was performing successfully all over the Soviet Union...
, Felix Galimir
Felix Galimir
Felix Galimir was an Austrian-born American-Jewish violinist and music teacher.He studied with Adolf Bak and Simon Pullman at the Vienna Conservatory from the age of twelve and graduated in 1928. With his three sisters he founded the Galimir Quartet in 1927 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary...
and Joseph Gingold. Leila also attended the Julia R. Masterman School
Julia R. Masterman School
The Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School is a secondary school located in Philadelphia. It is a magnet school, located in the Spring Garden neighborhood...
in Philadelphia while at Curtis, completing a Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree; the majority of work consists of prescribed music courses and study in applied music, usually requiring a...
degree and her High school diploma
High school diploma
A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED.-Past diploma styles:...
in the same year.
While still in her teens, Josefowicz played with symphony orchestras in Europe, Asia and the USA, including Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Boston, Montreal and Toronto.
Josefowicz made her Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
debut in 1994 performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto
Violin Concerto (Tchaikovsky)
The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1878, is one of the best known of all violin concertos. It is also considered to be among the most technically difficult works for violin.-Instrumentation:...
with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is an English chamber orchestra, based in London.Sir Neville Marriner founded the ensemble as The Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields in London as a small, conductorless string group. The ensemble's name comes from Trafalgar Square's St Martin-in-the-Fields...
.
The same year she signed an exclusive recording contract with Philips Classics, recording the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
concertos. Other recordings followed on Warner Classics, Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
and Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
labels that include masterworks for solo violin, recital repertoire and the concertos of Romantic
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
and modern
Modernism (music)
Modernism in music is characterized by a desire for or belief in progress and science, surrealism, anti-romanticism, political advocacy, general intellectualism, and/or a breaking with the past or common practice.- Defining musical modernism :...
composers.
Josefowicz has kept a busy international schedule as a soloist, performing regularly around the world including North and South America, Europe, Japan, China, New Zealand and Australia. She has a strong interest in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, improvisation
Musical improvisation
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...
, and new music.
Josefowicz is acclaimed for championing new compositions, including the works of John Adams, Oliver Knussen
Oliver Knussen
Oliver Knussen CBE is a British composer and conductor.-Biography:Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra. Oliver Knussen studied composition with John Lambert, between 1963 and 1969 and also received...
and Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor.-Biography:Adès studied piano with Paul Berkowitz and later composition with Robert Saxton at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London...
. In 2008-09, she performed the world premieres of concertos written for her by Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.-Early career:...
with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
(April 2009); Steven Mackey
Steven Mackey
Steven Mackey is an American composer, guitarist, and music educator.-Life:As a musician growing up listening to and performing vernacular American musics as well as classical music, Mackey's compositions are informed by rock and jazz, though in an avant-garde vein...
with the St. Louis Symphony (October 2008); and Colin Matthews
Colin Matthews
Colin Matthews OBE is an English composer of classical music.-Early life and education:Matthews was born in London in 1946; his older brother is the composer David Matthews. He read classics at the University of Nottingham, and then studied composition there with Arnold Whittall, and with Nicholas...
with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. The Orchestra's current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock...
(September 2009). During the 2010-11 concert season, Josefowicz continues to perform traditional masterworks and contemporary compositions, exposing audiences around the world to the aforementioned new violin concertos, with ensembles including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Salonen), New York City Ballet Orchestra (Salonen), St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (Adès), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Matthews), New World Symphony (Adès), Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Knussen), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (Mackey), Cleveland Orchestra (Adams), and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Adès).
Josefowicz is active internationally, and her recent and upcoming engagements in Europe also include appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the London, Munich and Czech Philharmonics, and the London Symphony; performances of the new Salonen concerto in Paris, Stockholm, Lisbon and Ferrara, Italy with the composer on the podium; and a fifth appearance at the London Proms.
Josefowicz received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1994. In 2007, she was named a USA Cummings Fellow, United States Artists
United States Artists
United States Artists is an independent nonprofit and nongovernmental philanthropic organization based in Los Angeles, California and dedicated to supporting the work of living American artists by the granting of cash awards, called USA Fellowships...
. Josefowicz is a 2008 MacArthur Fellow.
Josefowicz performs on a Guarnerius Del Gesù made in 1724.
Unsorted
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/3639854/I-needed-to-have-my-heart-broken.html
- http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article380627.ece
