2017 Performer Profiles: Lonneke van Straalen

No.7 – Lonneke van Straalen

Associate Artistic Director Jamie Campbell introduces some of the outstanding performers taking part in the 2017 Southwell Music Festival.

“We are thrilled to be welcoming violinist Lonneke van Straalen to Southwell Music Festival for the first time.

1) Who are you, where are you based, and what work do you do?

My name is Lonneke and I play the violin and I am from Holland. I live in Amsterdam with my husband and two kids. I have a position in the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and, in addition, I play in the Aurora Orchestra in London. Also, this summer I set up a brand new ensemble in Holland called ‘Pynarello’. In Amsterdam I’m one of the founders of ‘Splendor’; a concerthall, meeting place, a club, a workspace, a musical laboratory and much, much more! Besides playing concerts I’m also involved in Holland with a big project for refugee children to give them the chance to learn the Dutch language in a musical way. Around 10,000 children have already taken part in the project.

2) What music are you most looking forward to performing in Southwell this year?

The best thing about a music festival is that you have to play a lot of music! It gives me such a good feeling to dive into all those notes. To make music all day, with people I really like, feels like a birthday party or gives me the feeling when St Nicholas is arriving in Holland (when I was young of course!)
The whole SMF programme is great but I never played Faure quintet before, so I’m excited to get to know this piece and perform it.

3) What other things have you got coming up that are interesting in the next few months?

When I come back I’ll play my second project with my new ensemble ‘Pynarello’ in Amsterdam. We had an amazing launch concert in the summer so I cannot wait to see all the musicians again and give our next concert. After that I’ll travel to London to play the Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony with the Aurora Orchestra. This was the first piece I ever played with Aurora at a Prom, without sheet music. It was extremely exciting!! At this moment I’m curious how much of it remains in my brain! When I will be back from Aurora I’ll play ‘Shorelines’, a musical theatre piece, in Glasgow with a Dutch string quartet.”