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Janine Jansen: 10 facts about the great violinist
Born 7 January 1978 in the Netherlands, Janine Jansen is one of the world's great violin players. She also organises her own festival! Find out more here.
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1. A musical family
Janine Jansen comes from a musical family: her father is an organist and harpsichord player (as is one of her brothers), her mother is a singer, and another brother plays the cello in a Dutch radio orchestra. Her uncle is the renowned bass Peter Kooy.
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2. Appearance in Scotland
She began to study the violin at the age of six after first considering the cello. She appeared as a soloist with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland in 2001 when she performed the Brahms Violin Concerto.
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3. Award winner
She received the Dutch Music Prize in 2003 and, in the UK, the distinguished Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award in 2009.
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4. Crowd-pleaser
She has regularly received standing ovations from enthusiastic audiences, including a capacity crowd of 25,000 at a Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra 2006 concert
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5. A magnificent instrument
Jansen currently uses the 1727 Stradivari "Barrere" violin, on extended loan by the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
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6. The world's greatest orchestras
She works regularly with the world’s most eminent orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic, amongst others.
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7. Janine Jansen 5
Jansen has begun her own chamber music festival in Utrecht. She has often worked with the acclaimed pianist Itmar Golan.
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8. Beethoven and Britten
In 2009 Jansen released her recording of the Beethoven and Britten Violin Concertos. She said that recording them together was a long-standing desire of hers, as she sees these two works as among the greatest concertos in the current repertoire.
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9. Breaking with tradition
Jansen has eschewed tradition by recording with only five solo strings rather than a full orchestra, including her brother as cellist and father playing continuo.
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10. She plays like she is
The conductor Paavo Järvi has said of her, “She plays like she is. She’s a person of genuine warmth, genuine feeling, genuine expression. There’s nothing fake, nothing manufactured or prepared. The expression feels like it’s happening now and it’s honest. It’s like a child.”
