Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma is rapidly establishing herself as one of the world’s top violinists, a much sought after soloist and recitalist performing with leading orchestras and conductors worldwide. In the 2009/10 season, engagement highlights in Europe included performances with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (Britten/van Zweden), Rotterdam Philharmonic (Ravel Tzigane & Massenet Meditation/Nezet-Seguin), Royal Flemish Philharmonic (Britten/Watkins), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Shostakovich 1/Tortelier), Sinfonia Rotterdam (Mozart No. 5/van Alphen), Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra (play/direct Vivaldi’s Four Seasons). In the USA, she made her debut with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and performed for the second time with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (Britten/van Zweden). She also performed recitals in the Netherlands and for the prestigious 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).
Future engagements include debuts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Walton/Luisi), Orchestra Suisse Romande (Shostakovich 1/ Janowski), Orchestre Nationale de France (Bernstein Serenade/van Zweden), Lucerne Symphony (Dvorak and Khachaturian/Gaffigan), National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven/Tortelier), St Louis Symphony (Shostakovich 1/van Zweden), Seoul Philharmonic (Shostakovich 1/Gaffigan), Utah Symphony (Mendelssohn/Thierry Fischer) and Sao Paolo Symphony (Shostakovich 1/Tortelier). Return invitations include the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (Szymanowski/Segerstam), Royal Flemish Philharmonic (Beethoven/van Zweden), Bournemouth Symphony (Elgar/Hill), Dallas Symphony (Walton/van Zweden), Rotterdam Philharmonic (Sibelius/Valcuha) and the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. She will also be performing as a recitalist, among her invitations is a prestigious recital with live radio broadcast in the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in May 2011.
Ms Lamsma began playing the violin at the age of five, and moved to the UK aged 11 to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Professor Hu Kun and the Royal Academy of Music 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 awarded with the prestigious ‘HRH Princess Alice’s Prize’ for exemplary studentship, the ‘Louise Child Prize’ for the highest achievement of the Bmus Graduands and the ‘Roth Prize’ for the best violin exam result.
Enormously successful in international violin competitions, Ms Lamsma won the Silver Medal in the prestigious International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (2006), First Prize in the China International Violin Competition (2005) and First Prize in the Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition (2004). About Ms Lamsma’s performance of the Britten Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis, the London Times reviewed: “…the young Dutch player displayed a genuinely winning combination of musicality and technical command.” Among many other awards, scholarships and laureate prizes, Ms Lamsma also won the First Prize in the Dutch National Violin Competition 2003 and in 2007 and 2010 was nominated for a Dutch VSCD Classical Music Prize in the category ‘New Generation Musicians’, which is a nomination awarded by the directions of the main Dutch concert halls to artists that have made remarkable and valuable contributions to the Dutch classical music scene.
In 2006 Ms Lamsma’s debut recital disc for the Naxos label, featuring works by Edward Elgar, was released to great critical acclaim, receiving brilliant reviews in among others Strad Magazine (“…[Simone Lamsma] has a seriously fine technique and impeccable intonation, and puts these to use with mature musical intelligence…”) and a 5 star review in the Telegraph UK (“…[Simone Lamsma] brings rich tone and immense quality to Elgar’s sonata…”). The CD was “Classic FM’s Best Buy” in September 2006 and was featured as “Instrumental and Chamber Disc of the Month” in Classic FM Magazine. Ms Lamsma’s second disc for Naxos, a recording of violin concertos by Louis Spohr also received great critical acclaim: " Lamsma plays Spohr with authority - with technical aplomb and a silken, slender sound that recall Heifetz's. She sparkles in the higher registers....and sounds throaty in the lower ones; such unobtrusive muscularity, coupled with silvery violinistic solidity, makes her a credible exponent of Spohr's music. " Fanfare July/August 2009.
Ms Lamsma plays the “ex Chanot-Chardon” Stradivarius (labelled Cremona 1718), on generous loan to her by an anonymous benefactor.
Season 2010/2011
Contact: Nina Apollonov, IMG Artists Tel: +44 (0)20 7957 5855 – Fax: + 44 (0)20 7957 5801 – Email:
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Date Last Edited: 20th July 2010
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“.....Van het begin af aan wist Lamsma zeker dat ze later violiste wilde worden, en van die absolute overtuigingskracht getuigt iedere noot van haar intelligente, klassiek uitgebalanceerde, pure en serene maar ook opmerkelijk fantasierijke vioolspel.....” (Wenneke Savenije, NRC Handelsblad, 22 april 2003)
“.....Woorden schieten te kort.....” (Jurycommentaar Nationaal Viool Concours, De Telegraaf, 22 april 2003)
“.....Simone Lamsma speelde volgens kenners met een combinatie van hartroerende natuurlijkheid, poëtische bevlogenheid, en technische beheersing.....” (Leeuwarder Courant en Aad van der Ven, Haagsche Courant, 22 april 2003)
Nederlandse violiste Simone Lamsma vestigt zich snel als een wereldwijd veelgevraagd solist en kamermusicus. Sinds zij op 14-jarige leeftijd haar debuut maakte met het Noord Nederlands Orkest onder Takuo Yuasa, waarmee zij het 1e vioolconcert van Paganini uitvoerde, trad zij op in vele belangrijke concertzalen in de wereld. Zij werkte met vermaarde dirigenten zoals Sir Andrew Davis, Eri Klas, Sir Neville Marriner, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Arild Remmereit, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Takuo Yuasa en Jaap van Zweden en verscheen met vele vooraanstaande orkesten, onder wie the London Symphony Orchestra, Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Residentie Orkest, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, Brabants Orkest, Philharmonisches Orchester Heidelberg, Gelders Orkest, CapeTown Philharmonic Orchestra en Orquestra Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas.
Enorm succesvol tijdens internationale vioolconcoursen, won Simone Lamsma de zilveren medaille in de prestigieuze International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (2006), de 1e prijs in de China International Violin Competition (2005) en de 1e prijs in de Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition (2004). Over haar uitvoering van het Britten Concert tijdens het Gala Concert van het Britten Concours met het London Symphony Orchestra onder Sir Andrew Davis, schreef de London Times: “...the Young Dutch player (born 1985) displayed a genuinely winning combination of musicality and technical command…” Onder haar vele andere bekroningen, studiebeurzen en laureatenprijzen bevindt zich de 1e prijs Nederlands Nationaal Vioolconcours 2003 (‘Oskar Back’). In 2007 werd Simone Lamsma genomineerd voor een Nederlandse VSCD klassieke muziekprijs 2007 in de categorie ‘Nieuwe Generatie Musici’. NRC Handelsblad kondigde haar aan als “de opvallendste violiste van de jongste lichting”.
In 2006 verscheen Simone Lamsma’s debuut recital CD bij het Naxos label met werken van Edward Elgar. De CD is met groot enthousiasme ontvangen en kreeg prachtige recensies in onder andere Strad Magazine (“…She [Simone Lamsma] has a seriously fine technique and impeccable intonation, and puts these to use with mature musical intelligence…”) en de Telegraph UK (“…With her Japanese pianist [Yurie Miura], she [Simone Lamsma] brings rich tone and immense quality to Elgar’s sonata…”). De CD was “Classic FM’s Best Buy” in September 2006 en “Instrumental and Chamber Disc of the Month” in Classic FM Magazine. Simone Lamsma’s tweede CD voor Naxos met opnamen van vioolconcerten van Louis Spohr, in samenwerking met Sinfonia Finlandia onder Patrick Galllois, is begin 2009 verschenen. Ook deze CD is bijzonder goed ontvangen: “Lamsma plays Spohr with authority - with technical aplomb and a silken, slender sound that recall Heifetz's. She sparkles in the higher registers....and sounds throaty in the lower ones; such unobtrusive muscularity, coupled with silvery violinistic solidity, makes her a credible exponent of Spohr's music.” Fanfare July/August 2009
Toekomstige hoogtepunten in Europa zijn onder meer met het Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (Shostakovich Vioolconcert Nr.1), Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, zowel dit seizoen (Ravel Tzigane en Massenet Meditation) als in het begin van het seizoen 2010/2011 (Sibelius). Simone Lamsma zal het Vioolconcert van Britten uitvoeren met deFilharmonie Vlaanderen en soleren met het Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra en Yan Pascal Tortelier (Shostakovich Vioolconcert Nr.1). Ook gaat zij samenwerken met Sinfonia Rotterdam (Mozart Vioolconcert no.5) en met het Amsterdams Concertgebouw Kamerorkest zal zij de 4 jaargetijden van Vivaldi brengen. Recentelijk maakte zij haar US debuut met het Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra en het Dallas Symphony Orchestra (Tchaikovsky) onder leiding van Jaap van Zweden, waar zij zal terugkeren in 2010.
Simone Lamsma begon met viool spelen op 5-jarige leeftijd, en verhuisde naar Engeland toen zij 11 jaar was om aan de Yehudi Menuhin School verder te studeren bij viooldocent Hu Kun. Zij zette haar studie voort aan de Royal Academy of Music in Londen, en vervolgde deze vanaf 2004 bij viooldocent Maurice Hasson. Zijnde de jongste student ooit die het Bachelor of Music programma volgde, studeerde zij op 19-jarige leeftijd cum laude af, en werd beloond met de prestigieuze ‘HRH Princess Alice’s Prize’ voor ‘exemplary studentship’, de ‘Louise Child Prize’ voor de ‘highest achievements of the Bmus Graduands’ en de ‘Roth Prize’ voor ‘the best violin exam result’. Simone Lamsma bespeelt de ‘ex-Chanot-Chardon’ Stradivarius (label Cremona 1718), die haar genereus ter beschikking is gesteld door een anonieme bruikleengever.
