13-year-old plays
a violin concerto by
Mendelssohn
among the statues
Enjoy a special Sunday morning—with music and visual art! Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor is perhaps the composer’s most famous work and one of the most frequently performed violin concertos of all time. The work was a resounding success from the moment of its premiere in 1845, two years before Mendelssohn’s death.
This coming Sunday, you’ll have the opportunity to attend a very special performance of this piece, as 13-year-old high school student Svenja Staats will be performing this masterpiece at the Museum Beelden aan Zee in Scheveningen, with Folke Nauta accompanying her on the grand piano. Svenja is one of the Netherlands’ most talented violinists. She has already performed as a soloist in the small hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and at Vredenburg in Utrecht, among other venues. The Musical Instrument Fund believes in her abilities and has therefore loaned her a violin by Willibrord Crijnen (Marseille, 2006).
In addition to Mendelssohn’s violin concerto, Svenja will perform works by Dvořák and Kreisler on Sunday. The concert begins at 11:00 a.m. and lasts one hour (without an intermission). Afterward, you can visit the museum’s beautiful exhibition A Forest of Sculptures, featuring works from the Simon Spierer Collection by artists such as Hans Arp, Constantin Brancusi, Max Ernst, Henry Moore, and many others.
Every last Sunday of the month at 11 a.m., the Musical Instrument Fund and Beelden aan Zee organize a one-hour concert with no intermission.