Viktoria Mullova * | Katia Labèque
A | sundry (* in association with Askonas Holt)
D (* in association with Künstlersekretariat am Gasteig)
Full Biography
Viktoria Mullova | violin

Viktoria Mullova is an internationally acclaimed artist who studied at the Central Music School of Moscow and at the Moscow Conservatoire. Her extraordinary talent captured international attention when she won first prize at the 1980 Sibelius Competition in Helsinki and the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982. Since then, she has appeared with most of the world's greatest orchestras and conductors and at the major international festivals. Viktoria plays on her ‘Jules Falk’ 1723 Stradivarius.

A passion for the Baroque repertoire and a period approach to playing which she has nurtured since 2000 (performing and touring throughout the world with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Il Giardino Armonico and Venice Baroque), sees Mullova playing on authentic instruments with these groups.

Mullova’s ventures into creative contemporary music, which started in 2000 with her album “Through the Looking Glass” (with the renowned British jazz pianist Julian Joseph - “…Mullova and friends transcended their contrasting musical origins and fused into something genuinely new and beguiling.” - Richard Morrison, The Times), continues with specially commissioned works from young composers such as Dave Maric (premiered with Katia Labèque at the 2002 City of London Festival and on tour throughout Europe) and Fraser Trainer (premiered with the experimental ensemble Between the Notes at the 2003 City of London Festival). She continues to develop these relationships and premiered a new work for the BBC Proms in July 2005 by Fraser Trainer.

With a group of like-minded musicians she formed the Mullova Ensemble, which first toured in July 1994. The Ensemble have since recorded two discs (Bach Concertos and, on the Onyx label, the Schubert Octet) and continue to tour throughout Europe, their unique blend of scholarship and musicianship and their ability to breathe life into music new and old appreciated by audience and critics alike.

As a recitalist, Mullova performs regularly with Katia Labèque all over the world. Their recording, “Recital” was released in autumn 2006. She also plays Bach programmes on gut strings, either solo or with Ottavio Dantone on harpsichord with whom she tours Europe in March 2007. Immediately after the tour they will record the sonatas and the disc will be be released soon afterwards. “To hear Mullova play Bach is, simply, one of the greatest things you can experience…” Tim Ashley, The Guardian.

In May 2007, Viktoria will perform the Brahms concerto on tour with John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, for the first time on gut strings.

Her discography for Philips Classics has attracted many prestigious awards. In 2005 Mullova once again explored new territories teaming up with the newly formed Onyx Classics label to present a series of new recordings. The debut disc, Vivaldi Concertos with Il Giardino Armonico and directed by Giovanni Antonini, won the coveted Diapason D’Or of the year award for 2005.


Katia Labèque | piano

Katia Labèque´s childhood was filled with music, her formal training being supplemented by lessons with her mother Ada Cecchi, a former student of Marguerite Long,. Befitting her nonconformism, her eclectic repertory ranges from Bach to the present-day avant garde.
Katia´s musical originality has netted her a rare popularity. Together with her sister Marielle, she enjoys a stunning career throughout the world, playing with the most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, LSO, Philharmonia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Filarmonia della Scala, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Vienna Philharmonic. An impressive festival itinerary has taken in Berlin, Blossom, the Hollywood Bowl, Lucerne, the Proms, Ravinia, Tanglewood, the Salzburg Easter. For more information please visit www.labeque.com or www.fondazionekml.com.

Katia´s enthusiasm for new music led to her becoming a member of John Mc Laughlin´s group, touring worldwide with his band. Together they’ve performed on several of his highly creative recordings, including Belo Horizonte and Music Spoken Here. Miles Davis immortalized her with two songs on his album You´re Under Arrest. After recording an album with Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea entitled Little Girl Blue (Dreyfus), Katia formed her own group in 2001 with Dave Maric (keyboards) and Marque Gilmore (drums).Their collaboration Unspoken will be released Spring 2008 by KML Recordings in the form of a DVD with the work of visual artist Fabio Massimo Iaquone.

The aspiration to build a bridge crossing all aspects of contemporary creation has led Katia and Marielle to form their own label, KML Recordings. Transgressing conventions and boundaries, KML Recordings brings together the unexpected in meaningful and artistic ways, constantly associating sounds and images. Their vision goes beyond classical music to look at new territories where rock, electronic, contemporary, improvisation and video have their say. The first releases in 2007 comprise an all-Ravel programme (KML1111), including a new version of Bolero (from the composer himself) with added Basque percussion, a CD of Stravinsky and Debussy with a DVD directed by Tal Rosner (KML1112/3), and a recording of Mozart and Schubert (KML1118).

KML Recordings has also embarked on a number of collaborative projects. The first of these, entitled Dimension X, features David Chalmin (guitar), Massimo Pupillo (bass), and Chris Corsano (drums). It will be followed by Across the Universe of Languages (KML1115 with a special DVD edition KML1116), featuring Beatles interpretations and original music from Nicola Tescari, David Chalmin and Giovanni Sollima. This project is in association with Radio RAI.

Katia formed a new Band for Across the Universe of Languages: they will perform in 2007 at the Ruhr, Ravello, Montpellier and Baalbeck Festivals among others.
For more information please visit www.katialabeque.com or www.fondazionekml.org.
In 2001 Katia Labèque and Viktoria Mullova formed an new exciting duo, which has enjoyed international acclaim since its inception, appearing regularly throughout Europe at prestigious halls and festivals such as Carnegie Hall New York, the Musikverein in Vienna, Musikhalle Hamburg, Philharmonie Munich ,Lucerne, Belgrade, Athens, Roma , Milano, Firenze .The coming season will include tours in the UK and Switzerland. They have just released an album, Recital (KML 1110/Onyx 4015), featuring works by Schubert, Ravel, and Stravinsky. For further information please contact info@kmlrecordings.com.


2006/2007

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