Quirine Viersen

Viersen received her first lessons from her father and cellist Yke Viersen. She later studied cello at the Amsterdam Conservatory with Jean Decroos and Dmitri Ferschtman. In 1997 she completed her studies with Heinrich Schiff at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.

Viersen has been a soloist with all the major Dutch symphony orchestras and with major international orchestras, including: Concertgebouw Orchestra with Herbert Blomstedt and Bernard Haitink, Hessian Radio Orchestra with Hugh Wolff, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergjev, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra with Jean Fourmet, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with Zubin Mehta, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra with Georges Pehlivanian, Symfonie Orkest Vlaanderen, Limburgs Symfonieorkest, Malmö Symfony Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Renes, Orkest van het Oosten, the Hagen Orchestra, Koninklijk Filharmonisch Orkest Vlaanderen, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Orquesta Nacional de México, Ulster Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Montgomery, Combattimento Consort with Jan Willem de Vriend. In 2006, Viersen played the cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach for a performance by the National Ballet with a new choreography by Krzysztof Pastor.

Viersen has won prizes at numerous international competitions, such as the Concours de Violoncelle Rostropovitch 1990 in Paris and the I. International Paulo Cello Competition 1991 in Helsinki. In 1994 she was the first Dutch woman to win a prize at the prestigious X. International P. I. Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Viersen also won the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award 2000, which included a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta during the Lucerne Festival 2000.

Photo: Jelmer de Haas