My name is Chieko Donker Duyvis. When I was 8, I fell in love with the cello, and ever since then, a world of wonder, joy, and improvisation has opened up to me.
Website: http://chiekodonkerduyvis.com
The young, up-and-coming cellist and singer Chieko Donker Duyvis uniquely weaves together jazz improvisation, classical music, Brazilian grooves, and her own compositions with the fairy-tale-like sounds of her cello and voice.
Her musical journey began as a classical cellist, during which she performed concerts in Europe and Mexico with her trio and participated in chamber music projects with musicians from the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Since then, Chieko has focused on Brazilian music, jazz, and free improvisation.
She follows her own creative path and has been invited to sing on *Podium Witteman* and performs at venues such as the Grachtenfestival and Dias Latinos as the frontwoman of her own ensemble. She is the new “Young Artist” for the 2022 Grachtenfestival, where she will premiere her latest compositions.
In 2019, she was invited as a soloist to perform and sing her own compositions at the Ansan International Environmental Festival in South Korea.
Chieko has a passion for interdisciplinary projects and regularly collaborates with poets, visual artists, and dancers.
She composed the music for the dance performance MI:T by Dance Connects Company and created a new opera at the Opera Forward Festival featuring an improvising string quintet. She also collaborated with visual artist Floor van Keulen, blending free improvisation and painting.
Chieko has performed several times at the Concertgebouw: as a duo with spoken-word artist Roziena Salihu, singing her own compositions, and in October 2021 in the Main Hall, where she performed free improvisations and her own works.
As a composer and arranger, she has written for both jazz ensembles and classical chamber orchestras.
In 2015, she composed the score for the short film “Bosjesman” by director Mischa Dols and wrote the music for the trailer of the 2019 Parade.
Website:
Since 2018, I have been playing a beautiful small cello built by Daniël Royé, which was made available to me by Het Muziekinstrumentenfonds.
As a cellist, it’s crucial to be able to play a good instrument. You spend hours on end with your cello throughout your life, so the bond you form with your instrument is very intimate. This cello is very dear to me; it is the instrument to which I dedicate my life and which transforms my feelings into music. I spend more time with my cello than with anyone else.
That’s why it’s so important that the Musical Instrument Fund exists—few musicians can afford a truly good instrument. Without the fund’s help, I wouldn’t have been able to play such a beautiful cello anytime soon.
