Asked when she last played something by Beethoven oder Mendelssohn, the talkative Ms Josefowicz answers: »Probably not since I was in my twenties«. Leila Josefowicz prefers playing music of the 20th and 21st centuries. She has given the first performances of many contemporary violin concertos, among them works by Colin Matthews, Luca Francesconi, John Adams, Oliver Knussen and Esa-Pekka Salonen that the respective composers wrote for her. In her Elbphilharmonie Talk she talks about the piece »Scheherazade.2«, which John Adams dedicated to her, and which she played at the festival »Elbphilharmonie Visions« in February 2023. She also explains why the world of music sometimes reminds her of the hedge-fund business, how she found her way to contemporary music, and why she hates listening to her own recordings.
