Dutch cellist Quirine Viersen, born in 1972, belongs international to the leading musical personalities of the younger generation. With her powerful, intense and virtuoso playing, she has convinced the public, as well as the press and colleague musicians of her special musicality. With her performance in concerto and recital and with her participation at festivals, she has shown a broad insight in classical music literature.
Quirine was already a winner of various prizes at national and international competitions, such as the Rostropovich Competition in 1990 in Paris, the International Cello Competition in Helsinki in 1991, and in April 1994 Quirine Viersen was the first Dutch musician to win a prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In that same year she also received the Dutch Music Award.
The most important prize awarded to her up to now was the Young Artist Award 2000 which was presented to her by the Credit Suisse Groupe. Attached to this prize Quirine played a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta during the Luzerner Festival 2000.
Quirine received her first cello lessons from her father, Yke Viersen, who is a cellist in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Later on the conservatory she received lessons from Jean Decroos and Dmitri Ferschtman. She closed her studies at the Mozarteum Salzburg in 1997 as a student from Heinrich Schiff.
The frequent concerts with every important Dutch orchestra as well as the concerts with leading international orchestras and conductors forms the basis to the development of her musical personality and career, which makes Quirine a musician in great demand.
Among the most important orchestras and conductors Quirine performed with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Herbert Blomstedt and Bernard Haitink, Hessische Radio Orchestra with Hugh Wolff, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra with Valery Gergiev, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra with Jean Fournet and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with Zubin Mehta.
In the domain of chamber music Quirine is also in great demand. She is regular guest at festivals such as the Delft Chamber Music Festival, Klangspuren Festival in Schwaz and the Mondsee Tage.
With her duo-partner pianist Silke Avenhaus with who she forms a duo since 1996, she obtained an important place in the international concert life.
In the meanwhile several CD's have appeared of this duo with works from well-known as well as less well-know composers.
Magazine Fono Forum wrote about their album with works from Brahms, Hummel and Chopin: " The first part of Brahms' cello sonata in e minor has seldom been played so beautiful in detail as well as so organic in its entirety". "Even Chopins' Polonaise Brilliant seems to make technical poor demands on these two musicians".
The same critic, Anselm Cybinski, chose Quirine as Nachwuchkünstler of the year 2002.
He explained himself with the following words: "Ihr Ton rührt die Seele, ihre Gestaltungskunst erfreut den Kopf".
In the following seasons Quirine plays a.o. at the famous Risor Festival in Norway, the Rheingau Festival, Luzerner Festwochen, Mondsee Tage in Austria and also she will perform the world-premiere of the cello concerto from Werner Steinmetz with the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra. In 2004 she is invited to perform once more at the Salburg Festival.
Quirine plays on a Joseph Guarnerius Filius Andreae cello from 1715 placed at her disposal by the National Music instrument Foundation. |
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