Violin/director

Born in Athens of Albanian and Greek heritage, Jonian Ilias Kadesha has a keen interest in philosophy and rhetoric and possesses boundless imagination of sound and curation. His playing is characterized by stylistic accuracy and idiomatic interpretation from early to contemporary works, executed with immaculate articulation. Kadesha has performed widely as soloist throughout Europe, including with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Sir András Schiff, New Russian State Symphony conducted by Yuri Bashmet, Tapiola Sinfonietta conducted by Ryan Bancroft, Slovenian Philharmonic conducted by Aziz Shokhakimov, Munich Radio, Lübeck Philharmonic, Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt, RTE Concert Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic, Albanian Radio, New Russian State Symphony, Greek Radio and Thessaloniki State Orchestras.

As director and soloist, Jonian has appeared with many of the leading chamber orchestras, including the Netherlands, Scottish and Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestras, Manchester Camerata and the London Mozart Players. He has championed repertoire from composers such as Enescu, Bartok, Mozart, Bach, Nikos Skalkottas and a new concerto written for him in 2022 by Giovanni Sollima entitled TYCHE. In 2017 Kadesha founded and assumed the role of Artistic Director of the Caerus Chamber Ensemble, a flexible chamber ensemble made up of outstanding instrumentalists from the young generation of European musicians.

He has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Louvre, Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Moliere Lyon, Goldener Saal Augsburg and made his debut at the Konzerthaus Berlin as soloist and artistic director of the Caerus Kammerensemble. Festival appearances include the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Verbier Academy, Heidelberger-Frühling, Lockenhaus, Schubertiade, Progetto Martha Argerich, Hitzacker and Mantua Chamber Music Festivals and IMS Prussia Cove. Kadesha is a committed chamber musician and has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Martha Argerich, Steven Isserlis, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Nicolas Altstaedt, Antje Weithaas, Denes Varjon, Thomas Demenga, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Ilya Gringolts and Pekka Kuusisto.

He is co-founder of the award-winning Trio Gaspard, which regularly appears at festivals and in the music centres of Europe and the USA. Jonian is also a member of the Kelemen Quartet. In 2021 Kadesha signed to Linn Records. His debut solo album featuring Bach Partita in D minor alongside the premiere commercial recording of Helena Winkelman’s Ciaccona and works by Biber, Schnittke, Kurtág & Auerbach was released in 2022. With pianist Nicholas Rimmer he recorded works by Enescu, Ravel and Skalkottas for Cavi Music and with cellist Vashti Hunter he recorded a disc of violin and cello repertoire in collaboration with Deutschland Radio.

Kadesha studied with Antje Weithaas, Salvatore Accardo, Grigori Zhislin and Ulf Wallin, and completed his Masters at the Kronberg Academy in 2020. He studied chamber music with Hatto Beyerle in Hannover and has taken part in masterclasses with Ferenc Rados, Steven Isserlis, Ivry Gitlis, Leonidas Kavakos and Eberhard Feltz. His numerous awards include prizes at the 2015 Deutscher Musikwettbewerb, 2013 Leopold Mozart Violin Competition and he was selected for representation by the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2018