Leonidas Kavakos: Social Harmony

The audience may have assembled in the neo-classical building that is the Academy of Athens, but it is not to listen to members of this national research institution. We are here instead to find out what Leonidas Kavakos has to say as he hosts his eighth annual masterclass. The three-day event, organised in his home city by the Musical Horizons Conservatory, features violinists and the odd chamber group, chosen by Kavakos personally, with pianists Emi Munakata and Ai Motohashi on duty throughout. 

Running this year from 19 to 21 April, the Leonidas Kavakos Masterclass (LKM) provides an engrossing insight into the violinist’s approach to music. It reveals a musician for whom the practicalities of music making are not only technical but based on social responsibility, and for whom musical individuality is balanced by respect for musical context. At the heart of this approach is something Sándor Végh told him early in his career, as he recalls when we meet the day after LKM has concluded.

‘“There’s one thing I like and that you should not change,” said Végh. “You play your own way, but it’s not eccentric. Don’t change that.” That was amazing advice for me; I have kept it all my life and I always try to …