Patricia Kopatchinskaja Essentials

Few musicians can so powerfully counter arguments that classical music is a relic of the past as the Moldavian violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, whose vast repertoire is an object lesson in continuity and accretion. She plays music from across centuries and continents with a go-for-broke bravura made possible by remarkable technique and an imagination as visceral as her extroverted performance style. She injects the same ardor and colouristic depth into Renaissance polyphony as she does a fiercely modern concerto written for her by Michael Hersch, transcending genre even as her programming makes fresh connections across eras.