Happy Birthday, Leila Josefowicz!

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Leila began her international career performing with the world's premier orchestras and conductors whilst still in her teens

Today is American-Canadian violinist Leila Josefowicz 47th birthday!

Josefowicz began learning the violin at age 3 using the Suzuki method. At age 5 she started lessons with Idel Low, and later with Robert Lipsett at age 7.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Jaime Laredo, Jascha Brodsky, Felix Galimir and Joseph Gingold, Leila began her international career performing with the world's premier orchestras and conductors whilst still in her teens.

At age 12 she performed Henri Vieuxtemps's Violin Concerto No. 5 in A minor at The Hollywood Bowl with conductor David Alan Miller and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In 1994, at age 17, she made her Carnegie Hall debut, performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. She was also the recipient of an Avery Fischer Career Grant that year.

Recently Ms Josefowicz has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, and Houston, San Diego, KBS, Singapore, City of Birmingham, Prague and BBC symphony orchestras.

Highlights of recent seasons include appearances with Berliner Philharmoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Royal Concertgebouworkest, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, London, Oslo, Helsinki and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Chicago, San Francisco, The Cleveland, and The Philadelphia orchestras, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Musikkollegium Winterthur and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Josefowicz has collaborated closely with John Novacek since 1985, performing recitals at prestigious venues including New York’s Zankel Hall and Park Avenue Armory, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as in Reykjavik, Trento, Bilbao, and Chicago.

Other chamber collaborations for 2024/25 include with Alexei Tartakovsky at Newport Classical, and Paul Watkins, with whom she will premiere a new violin/​cello work by Sean Shepherd, at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Chamber Music Northwest.

A strong advocate of new music, in recent years she has premiered a number of important new compositions — including works by Colin Matthews, Luca Francesconi, John Adams, Oliver Knussen, Thomas Ades, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In a VC-exclusive blog, Leila shares her approach for ensuring a successful and fruitful collaboration with a living composer.

She is the recipient of the 2018 Avery Fisher Prize and the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2008. Leila Josefowicz was recognized by the Gramophone as "in short, a fantastic talent."

LEILA JOSEFOWICZ & JOHN NOVACEK | SIBELIUS | VALSE TRISTE | VIOLIN CHANNEL VANGUARD CONCERTS SERIES 2