About
“Simone Lamsma played splendidly, with crisp clarity and brightly radiant sound, conveying both the rhapsodic fervor and intriguing pensiveness of the music.“ (The New York Times, December 2018)
Hailed for her “brilliant… polished, expressive and intense” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and “absolutely stunning” (Chicago Tribune) playing, Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma is respected by critics, peers and audiences as one of classical music’s most striking and captivating musical personalities. Conductor Jaap van Zweden with whom Simone enjoys a regular collaboration, describes her as one of the leading violinists in the world.
With an extensive repertoire of over 60 Violin Concertos, Simone’s recent seasons have seen her perform with many of the world’s leading orchestras.
Notable recent highlights include her debut with the New York Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden, and with the Chicago Symphony, described by the Chicago Tribune as “piercingly beautiful”, as well as return invitations to the Cleveland Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic and Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Other significant debuts included the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, MDR Sinfonie Orchester Leipzig, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Hessischer Rundfunk Orchester, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony, Les Siécles, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
Highlights for the 19/20 and 20/21 seasons include debuts with Gürzenich Orchester, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symhony Orchestra, and return invitations to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Houston Symphony, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Hallé, RTE Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, National Arts Center Orchestra Ottawa.
Besides her close collaboration with Jaap van Zweden, Simone has worked with many other eminent conductors including Vladimir Jurowski, François-Xavier Roth, Omer Meir-Wellber, Edward Gardner, Mark Wigglesworth, Kent Nagano, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Mark Elder, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, James Gaffigan, Sir Andrew Davis, Robert Trevino, Andrès Orozco-Estrada, Jiří Bělohlávek, Carlos Kalmar, Kirill Karabits, Stéphane Denève, Hannu Lintu, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Fabien Gabel, and Andris Poga.
In 2017 Simone’s most recent recording featuring Shostakoviich’s first violin concerto and Gubaidulina’s In Tempus praesens with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic under James Gaffigan and Reinbert de Leeuw was released on Challenge Classics and received high accolades from the press, as did her previous Mendelssohn, Janáček and Schumann CD with pianist Robert Kulek.
In addition to her many international prizes and distinctions, Simone was awarded the national Dutch VSCD Classical Music Prize in the category ‘New Generation Musicians’ in 2010, 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.
In May 2018 Simone was invited by His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Máxima of The Netherlands to perform during their official state visit to Luxembourg.
Simone began studying the violin at the age of 5 and moved to the UK aged 11 to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Professor Hu Kun. At the age of 14 Simone made her professional solo debut with the North Netherlands Orchestra performing Paganini’s 1st Violin Concerto, her debut highly praised by the press. She continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Professor Hu Kun and Professor Maurice Hasson, where she graduated aged 19 with first class honours and several prestigious awards. In 2019, she was made Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, an honour limited to 300 former Academy students, and awarded to those musicians who have distinguished themselves within the profession.
Simone currently lives in The Netherlands.
Simone plays the “Mlynarski” Stradivarius (1718), on generous loan to her by an anonymous benefactor.