Leonidas Kavakos & ApollΩn Ensemble Queen's Hall 23rd August 2025 Review
Leonidas Kavakos & ApollΩn Ensemble at the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh this morning was the final concert in this year’s EIF 11AM concert series, and what better way to end this series than with ever popular violin concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach.
The full programme of music for this concert was as below
Bach
Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor, BWV1041
Violin Concerto No.2 in E, BWV1042
Violin Concerto in G minor, BWV1056R
Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV1052R
There was a little twist to this selection of music, as Bach only wrote three original violin concertos (BWV 1041, 42 & 43). The other two performed today are based on other works and draw inspiration from Bach’s keyboard writing re-imagined for their possibilities on the violin.
For any violinist, these works have everything as intricate counterpoint and beautiful melodies leave, for the right musician, room to not only explore all of the technical possibilities that these works offer, but also seemingly endless possibilities of personal expression.
Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos is widely regarded as a musician with an intuitive understanding of Bach’s violin concertos and this morning we as an audience were given a display of virtuosity that effortlessly underlined why his work is held in such high esteem by audiences and fellow musicians across the world. Leonidas Kavakos has rare technical skills on the violin, but he also has the ability to explore with exceptional clarity the many colours and moods contained within Bach’s works.
The ApollΩn Ensemble was formed by Leonidas Kavakos in 2022, and as you would expect, it is made up of very talented musicians - Violin (Noé Inui, Alexandros Sakarellos), Viola (Ilias Livieratos), Cello (Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin), Bass (Michail-Pavlos Semsis) and Harpsichord (Iason Marmaras).
This ensemble is only now starting to expand its touring schedule, and that is good as their music needs the opportunity to be performed to as wide an audience as possible.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
The full programme of music for this concert was as below
Bach
Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor, BWV1041
Violin Concerto No.2 in E, BWV1042
Violin Concerto in G minor, BWV1056R
Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV1052R
There was a little twist to this selection of music, as Bach only wrote three original violin concertos (BWV 1041, 42 & 43). The other two performed today are based on other works and draw inspiration from Bach’s keyboard writing re-imagined for their possibilities on the violin.
For any violinist, these works have everything as intricate counterpoint and beautiful melodies leave, for the right musician, room to not only explore all of the technical possibilities that these works offer, but also seemingly endless possibilities of personal expression.
Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos is widely regarded as a musician with an intuitive understanding of Bach’s violin concertos and this morning we as an audience were given a display of virtuosity that effortlessly underlined why his work is held in such high esteem by audiences and fellow musicians across the world. Leonidas Kavakos has rare technical skills on the violin, but he also has the ability to explore with exceptional clarity the many colours and moods contained within Bach’s works.
The ApollΩn Ensemble was formed by Leonidas Kavakos in 2022, and as you would expect, it is made up of very talented musicians - Violin (Noé Inui, Alexandros Sakarellos), Viola (Ilias Livieratos), Cello (Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin), Bass (Michail-Pavlos Semsis) and Harpsichord (Iason Marmaras).
This ensemble is only now starting to expand its touring schedule, and that is good as their music needs the opportunity to be performed to as wide an audience as possible.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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