Biography
Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma has been described by conductor Jaap van Zweden as one of the leading violinists in the world. She is rapidly establishing herself as a much sought after soloist and recitalist performing with leading orchestras and conductors worldwide. This season, engagement highlights will include debuts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Walton/Luisi), Orchestre National de France (Bernstein Serenade/van Zweden), Lucerne Symphony (Khachaturian/Gaffigan), Utah Symphony (Mendelssohn/Thierry Fischer), Hong Kong Philharmonic (Britten/van Zweden), Copenhagen Philharmonic (Bernstein Serenade/Mandeal), and São Paolo Symphony (Shostakovich 1/Tortelier). Return engagements include performing twice with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (Gubaidulina 2/de Leeuw and Korngold/Gaffigan), Dallas Symphony (Mendelssohn/van Zweden), Bournemouth Symphony (Beethoven/Karabits) and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Bruch and Shostakovich 1/Shelley).
Recent season successes included performances with the Orchestra Suisse Romande (Shostakovich 1/ Janowski), St Louis Symphony (Shostakovich 1/van Zweden), Seoul Philharmonic (Shostakovich 1/Gaffigan), National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven/Tortelier), Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (Britten/van Zweden and Szymanowksi/Segerstam), Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic (Mendelssohn/van Zweden), Rotterdam Philharmonic (Sibelius/Valcuha and Ravel Tzigane & Massenet Meditation/Nezet-Seguin), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Elgar/Hill and Shostakovich 1/Tortelier), and the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra (play/direct Vivaldi’s Four Seasons).
In the USA, Ms Lamsma made her debut with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra in 2009 and since then has performed regularly throughout the States. Engagement highlights include regular appearances with the Dallas Symphony where she will return for the third time this season, St Louis Symphony (Shostakovich 1/van Zweden) and the Utah Symphony (Mendelssohn/Fischer).
As recitalist, her invitations included a highly successful and prestigious recital in the Main Hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in May 2011 with live, national radio broadcast. She also performed recitals throughout the Netherlands, Italy and for the Rio de Janeiro Sala Cecilia series (taking over a cancellation from Vadim Repin) with Robert Kulek and Valentina Lisitsa as chamber music partners.
Other highlights included national broadcasts on Dutch television of her performance featuring Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic conducted by Jaap van Zweden as well as a 40-minute documentary about Ms Lamsma’s life as a musician produced by NPS (Dutch national television). In April 2011 Ms Lamsma was invited to perform for HMH Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic – a concert that was broadcast nationally on Dutch television. In 2006 Ms Lamsma’s debut recital disc for the Naxos label, featuring works by Edward Elgar, was released to great critical acclaim and was featured as “Instrumental and Chamber Disc of the Month” in Classic FM Magazine. Her second disc for Naxos, a recording of violin concertos by Louis Spohr with Sinfonia Finlandia also received a similar critical response.
Ms Lamsma started her violin studies at the age of 5 in The Netherlands, and moved to the UK aged 11 to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Professor Hu Kun and the Royal Academy of Music in London with Professor Maurice Hasson. As the youngest student ever to enter the Royal Academy of Music’s Bachelor of Music programme, Ms Lamsma graduated from the Royal Academy aged 19 with first class honours and several prestigious awards. In 2011, she was made an Associate of the RAM, an honour given to those students who have made significant and distinguished contributions to their field.
Enormously successful in international violin competitions, Ms Lamsma won the 2nd Prize during the prestigious International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (2006), and was 1st Prize winner of the China International Violin Competition (2005), the Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition (2004) and the Dutch National Violin Competition 2003. In 2010 she was awarded the national Dutch VSCD Classical Music Prize in the category ‘New Generation Musicians’, awarded by the Association of Dutch Theatres and Concert Halls to artists that have made remarkable and valuable contributions to the Dutch classical music scene. She was also awarded the ‘Golden Violin’ Prize, a triennial prize given to a classical artist who has made outstanding contributions to the classical music scene of the Northern Netherlands.
Ms Lamsma plays the “ex Chanot-Chardon” Stradivarius (labelled Cremona 1718), on generous loan to her by an anonymous benefactor. Simone Lamsma’s official website is www.simonelamsma.com
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