Biography

Simone Lamsma began studying violin at the age of five. At eleven, she moved to the UK to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School before continuing studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2011, she was made an associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Highlights for the 2016-17 season include debuts with the National Symphony in Washington DC, National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Vancouver Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, RTÉ National and Iceland symphonies, as well as return invitations to the London Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Residentie Orchestra, and Royal Flemish Philharmonic.

In April 2017 she returns to the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic to perform the world premiere of Matijs de Roo’s Violin Concerto at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. This season also marks her Japan debut, performing with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra as well as in recital with pianist Yurie Miura. Other recital appearances include her debuts in London’s Wigmore Hall and New York’s Carnegie Hall with pianist Robert Kulek, in a program that includes the world premiere of a new work by James MacMillan, commissioned by Carnegie Hall. She also returns to the Chicago Winter Chamber Music Festival in Evanston performing sonatas and trios with pianist Andrew Armstrong and cellist Kenneth Olson.

Notable recent highlights include her debut with the Chicago Symphony, a tour of China with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden, and the French premiere of Michel van der Aa’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestre National de Lyon. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut as a Shenson Young Artist in February 2014.

In 2015 Ms. Lamsma released a recording of sonatas by Mendelssohn, Janáček, and Schumann with pianist Robert Kulek on the Challenge Classics label. She was awarded the national Dutch VSCD Classical Music Prize in the category of 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.

Simone Lamsma plays the “Mlynarski” Stradivarius (1718) violin, on generous loan to her by an anonymous benefactor. She currently lives in The Netherlands.

(January 2017)