Elisabeth Leonskaja is the portrait artist for the 2025/26 season at the Kölner Philharmonie – and one of the great musicians of our time. In conversation with Katie Knees, she talks about the word ‘must’, which for her is not a constraint but a driver of creativity; about her responsibility to music, her early influences in Tbilisi and Moscow – and why one must continually rediscover a work. Also: thoughts on sound, silence, audiences, chamber music, stress, happiness and the strange word ‘podcast’.
Elisabeth Leonskaja
In conversation with Katherina Knees
Elisabeth Leonskaja is the portrait artist for the 2025/26 season at the Kölner Philharmonie – and one of the great musicians of our time.
