Grand prix for Patricia Kopatchinskaja

The Grand Prix suisse de musique, awarded by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture for the fourth time, recognizes outstanding and innovative musical creation by a musician or group of musicians. Once again this year, the fifteen winners of the Swiss Music Prizes represent a snapshot of Swiss musical excellence.

In 2016, the FOC commissioned ten experts, music critics, music programmers and specialists in the field, who selected candidates from all linguistic regions of the country and from all musical fields, and submitted their selection to the Federal Music Jury. Last February, the seven-member jury selected the 15 winners of the Swiss Music Prizes from among the 60 or so musicians nominated, and the winner of the Grand Prix Suisse de Musique from among them.

Patricia Kopatchinskaja breaks taboos
Born in Moldavia in 1977, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja initially lived with her family in Vienna. At the age of 21, she completed her musical training at the conservatory in Bern, where she has lived ever since. Patricia Kopatchinskaja enthralls audiences with her radical interpretations of works from a wide variety of periods and styles. The magic of her playing brings a new freshness to the great works of the violin repertoire, and she also devotes herself to contemporary works, which she interprets with passion and virtuosity. Patricia Kopatchinskaja challenges the sometimes rigid rituals of the concert, freeing the audience from certain habits, as for example in the project Dies irae at this year's Lucerne Festival. Patricia Kopatchinskaja has won numerous international distinctions and today performs with the leading symphony orchestras of Europe, Japan and Russia; she works with some of the most important conductors of our time. Patricia Kopatschinskaja will take over the artistic direction of the Camerata de Berne for the 2018/2019 season.