Simone Lamsma

Simone Lamsma is a Dutch violinist and teacher born (in Leeuwarden, Netherlands – about 70 miles northeast of Amsterdam) on October 5, 1985.  Opinions vary, of course, but I think it is no exaggeration to say she is among the top ten present-day violinists in the world.  As has been the case with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, there are few music critics who have resisted the temptation to refer to her striking beauty in their reviews of her performances.  From her photograph, you can see why.  Lamsma’s recordings have already garnered huge praise.  Her tours have included performances with chamber music ensembles around the world.  Needless to say, Lamsma has performed with all of the top orchestras in the Netherlands, including the best orchestra in the world – the Royal Concertgebouw.  She began her violin studies at age 5 at the Northern College of Music.  Soon thereafter, she enrolled at the Sweelink Conservatory in Amsterdam and studied for a while with well-known violin pedagogue Davina van Wely.  In 1997, at age 11, she enrolled at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London, England.  She also studied at the Royal Academy of Music until 2004, the year she graduated, with Hu Kun in the same city.  After that, she began studies with Maurice Hasson at the Royal Academy as well.  In addition, Lamsma also participated in master classes with Yehudi Menuhin, Zakhar Bron, Herman Krebbers, Julian Rachlin, and Zvi Zeitlin, among others.  By 2006, she had made her recording debut which immediately earned the award for Instrumental and Chamber Disc of the Month from Classic FM magazine.  She was 21 years old.  She was named an Associate at the Royal Academy of Music in 2011.  From various sources I checked, it is evident Lamsma loves violin competitions and has won a number of them beginning at a very young age.  Her tours have taken her to China, the U.S., South America, and, of course, throughout Europe.  She frequently collaborates with conductor and former concert violinist Jaap van Zweden, one of her many champions.  Her U.S. debut was in 2009 in Indianapolis with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.  Lamsma frequently collaborates with other major artists to perform chamber music.  A typical review reads something like this: "… a terrific account of Beethoven's Violin Concerto [was heard] with Simone Lamsma as the sensational and glamorous soloist.  Powerful in control, the young Dutch violinist drew silvery meticulousness and burnished tone out of the Stradivarius, but it was her sense of line and phrase that held her audience spellbound.”  Another one: “Lamsma’s mix of high ardor and collegial spirit is something to be treasured.”  And another: “Her sound is full of energy and refreshing.”  Here is a YouTube video of one performance and here is another.  Among other violins, she has played a (Ferdinand) Gagliano (1773), a Carlo Tononi (1709), and the Habeneck Strad from 1734, but her current violin is the Chanot Stradivarius (aka the Braga Stradivarius) of 1718 (or 1681 or 1726 – sources differ.)  It has been loaned to her by an anonymous benefactor.  The violin is reportedly protected by a (Dimitri) Musafia violin case, one of the best violin cases available.  The Chanot Stradivarius is rather unique in that it has no corners and has been described as guitar-shaped although it is definitely not guitar-shaped.  The Chanot was purchased by Joshua Bell in 1987 and subsequently sold.  It is said to have been featured in the 1998 movie The Red Violin.  

Photo is courtesy of Denis Ryan Kelly, Jr 

Anton Kersjes

Anton Kersjes was a Dutch violinist and conductor born on August 17, 1923 (Heifetz was 22 years old.) After World War Two, he began his career as a violinist with the Tuschinski Theatre Orchestra in Amsterdam. He later established his reputation as a conductor of the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra - not to be confused with the Royal Concertgebouw. The Amsterdam Phil started its life in 1953 as the Kunstmaand Orchestra and adopted its new name (Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra) in 1969. It then became - after a merger with two other Dutch orchestras - the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra in 1985. In addition to conducting a huge number of concert, opera, and ballet performances, he was Assistant Director of the Maastrich Conservatory. He also recorded a few albums, a few of which are still available. As far as I know, Anton Kersjes never conducted in the U.S. Outside of Holland, his name is almost never mentioned. He died on December 2, 2004, at age 81.

Louis Zimmermann

Louis Zimmermann (Louis Johann Heinrich Zimmermann) was a Dutch concert violinist, composer, and teacher born on July 19, 1873 (Brahms was 40 years old.) His first lessons were with his father. As a teenager, in Leipzig (1890), he studied with Hans Sitt. Later on, he studied with Eugene Ysaye in Brussels. In the late 1890s, he played in some Royal Court Orchestra in Germany. He then played first chair (in the first violin section) of the Royal Concertgebouw (Orchestra) from 1899 to 1904. He had the distinction of playing the violin solos at the English premiere of Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben in 1902, with the composer on the podium. From 1904 he was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in Amsterdam and then Concertmaster of the Concertgebouw from January, 1911 to January, 1940. He was a regular soloist with the orchestra, as when he played the Beethoven violin concerto with them on November 29, 1931, and again on January 10, 1937. A live recording of his rendering of the Beethoven is still available. Here is a rare YouTube audio file of one of his recordings.  Zimmermann’s compositions include chamber music, a violin concerto (premiered in 1921), and cadenzas for the Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart violin concertos. Louis Zimmermann died on March 6, 1954, at age 80.  

Theo Olof

Theo Olof is a Dutch violinist born on May 5, 1924. He spent his early years in Germany, where he was born. One of his principal teachers was Oskar Back. He gave his first concert at age eleven with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. For many years, Olof was concertmaster of the Hague Philharmonic (Residentie Orchestra). He was also concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1974 until 1985. Until 1982, Olof taught at the Royal Conservatory (The Hague).