KATI DEBRETZENI
VIOLIN

A fourth-generation musician, Kati Debretzeni began playing the violin with Sofia Szabó in her native Romania, finishing her studies with Ora Shiran in Israel. Her passion for historical performance took her to London, where she studied the Baroque violin with Catherine Mackintosh and Walter Reiter.

From 2000 to 2024, Debretzeni led the English Baroque Soloists under John Eliot Gardiner, with whom she has performed the world over. Her playing can be heard in the group’s recordings of J.S. Bach’s cantatas, the Brandenburg concertos and the more recent recordings of the Mass in B Minor, the St Matthew Passion and Monteverdi’s operas. In 2018 she recorded violin concertos by J.S. Bach with the orchestra to critical acclaim. She became leader of Gardiner’s Constellation Ensemble in December 2024.

Since 2008 she has been one of the leaders of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and has collaborated with Simon Rattle, Adam and Iván Fischer, András Schiff, William Christie, Ottavio Dantone, Vladimir Jurowski, Maxim Emelyanichev, and Ricardo Minasi. She has directed the group from the violinist’s chair in works ranging from Baroque repertoire to Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Berlioz, and has recorded Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, following performances in collaboration with the Henri Oguike Dance Company.

Debretzeni is in demand internationally as leader, soloist, and director with groups such as the Orchestra of the 18th Century (Netherlands), Zefiro (Italy), Akademie für Alte Music Berlin (Germany), Barokkanerne (Norway), Sevilla Baroque Orchestra (Spain), Les Siècles (France), Victoria Baroque (Canada) and the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra (Israel). A keen chamber musician, Kati has recorded award-winning CDs with Minasi and Florilegium. In the last decade and a half, she has been a member of Trio Goya. Debretzeni has given master classes in the U.K., Germany, Italy, Norway, Canada, Israel, and Hungary. She is on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and her former students make music the world over.