LIZA FERSCHTMAN

Liza Ferschtman

Liza Ferschtman is one of the most celebrated Dutch violinists of our time. She has a commanding stage presence and a highly varied repertoire. Ferschtman performs as a soloist with leading orchestras and in chamber music ensembles. Since 2008, she has directed the Delft Chamber Music Festival. She performs regularly ...
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Mentioned in the biography of

1988   Anna Magdalena den Herder
2006   Isabelle van Keulen
2009   Bram van Sambeek
2013   Nederlands Jeugd Strijk Orkest
2013   Robert Zuidam
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Biography Liza Ferschtman

Liza Ferschtman is one of the most celebrated Dutch violinists of our time. She has a commanding stage presence and a highly varied repertoire. Ferschtman performs as a soloist with leading orchestras and in chamber music ensembles. Since 2008, she has directed the Delft Chamber Music Festival. She performs regularly with the pianists Bas Verheijden and Inon Barnatan.

1979

Liza Ferschtman is born in Hilversum in a musical family of Russian descent. Her mother is a pianist and her father a cellist in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Her impassioned style of playing is often seen as a sign of her Russian roots.

1984 - 1990

At age 5, Ferschtman begins taking violin lessons with Philip Hirschhorn. At 9, she is admitted to the talented children’s class at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, where she has lessons with Qui van Woerdekom.

1991 - 1998

When she is 12, Ferschtman participates for the first time in the Holland Music Sessions and follows master classes with, among others, Eduard Schmieder,Yvry Gitlis, Igor Oistrach and Aaron Rosand. She studies at the Sweelinck Conservatory with Herman Krebbers and Alla Kim. Ferschtman wins first prize at the Iordens Violin Days (1994), the Herman Krebbers Competition (1995), and the Oscar Back National Violin Competition (1997), where she also is awarded a prize for her performance of the required piece.

Herman Krebbers

1998 - 2000

Liza Ferschtman receives the prestigious Philip Morris Finest Selection Award. She is invited to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Ida Kavafian and Victor Danchenko. In 1999, she makes her official debut in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw’s Recital Hall in the Jonge Nederlanders Series. She has since performed there each year.

2000 - 2001

In November, on the initiative of Nobuko Imai and Walter van Hauwe, she tours Japan with the East West Baroque Academy as a solist and concertmaster. Coached by Herman Krebbers, she prepares for the 2001 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. She is the first Netherlander in 50 years to reach the semifinal. In February, she makes her debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin, with Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Nobuko Imai Walter van Hauwe

2002 - 2003

In August, Ferschtman performs in a Prinsengracht Concert in Amsterdam. She forms a duo with the pianist Inon Barnatan, who, like Ferschtman, has built an impressive international career. She studies further with David Takeno in London. In 2003, she wins second prize at the Sion-Valais International Violin Competition in Switzerland; the children’s jury awards her first prize.

2005 - 2006

With the pianist Bas Verheijden, she makes her CD debut. In March, the music periodical Luister gives the double CD a 10. Ferschtman and Barnatan perform Beethoven’s complete violin sonatas in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. In April 2006, she makes her recital debut in New York with Barnatan. The performance is so successful, she is immediately invited to return in 2008. In November, she receives the Netherlands Music Prize, one of the most important national prizes for young musicians.

Bas Verheijden

2007 - 2008

Liza Ferschtman is the Classical Music Week ambassador this year. She is invited to become the artistic director of the Delft Chamber Music Festival in 2008. Under the leadership of Isabelle van Keulen, the festival has developed into one of the most important summer musical events in the Netherlands. Ferschtman follows the course set by Van Keulen: the programming remains a mixture of familiar and less well-known works, with an emphasis on the Classical and Romantic periods and occasional forays into the more recent past. Ferschtman makes her recital debut in Washington.

Isabelle van Keulen

2009

In March, Liza Ferschtman makes her debut at the Musikverein in Vienna with the Wiener Concert-Verein conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend. Ferschtman and Barnatan take the Beethoven sonatas on a tour of Italy. With the Brandenburgisches Philharmonie in Frankfurt a/d Oder, she performs the violin concerto by the 19th-century Dutch composer Julius Röntgen.

Jan Willem de Vriend Julius Röntgen

2011

Her solo CD with music by Bach and Eugène Ysaye is nominated for the Edison Public award.

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