Patricia Kopatchinskaja on Márton Illés' Vont-tér
2 Video Views·Mar 25, 2026
London Symphony Orchestra’s Artist Portrait Patricia Kopatchinskaja, performs Vont-tér by contemporary composer Márton Illés.
In this video, Patricia explores Illés’ striking and unconventional concerto, revealing how the composer reshapes the relationship between soloist and orchestra. She also reflects on how new music can surprise listeners, challenge expectations, and open all the senses in unexpected ways.
Which concerto started like that?
Nothing like that.
When I played the first time this concerto,
I felt transported in a hemisphere
where I've never been before.
And, you know, this is so important in art
to still be surprised.
Because we always play old music
which we already know, kind of,
we cannot be surprised anymore.
And in modern music, in contemporary music,
there is no problematic like that.
It's really new.
And the composer is alive.
You can ask him, you can argue with him,
you can make him laugh.
He is very precise.
He can imagine every single sound
so precisely.
He is not a violinist, he is a pianist.
But he can show everything on the violin.
But he doesn't play like this.
He bought a violin somewhere,
I don't know, on the flea market.
And he plays like this.
So everything that he wrote is indeed possible
but sounds much better in this position.
And then I tell him
that gravity is another way.
But anyway.
So he is a very serious composer.
I love it so much to surprise myself.
Especially when it starts.
Which concerto started like that?
Nothing like that.
And then you go forward
and it starts to develop to unexpected.
It's something that you must listen.
You must experience.
And the orchestra doesn't sound like an orchestra.
We all get transformed to something else.
The piece is like an animal
from another planet, I would say.