"The Search for a Voice"
The search for an instrument is the search for a voice—a sound you recognize, not because you hear it, but because it resonates within you.
For years, I played a beautiful Lupot from the Musical Instrument Fund, which I affectionately called Wolfje. It had no shortage of character—radiant, powerful, sometimes headstrong. Its tone demanded control and precision; everything had to be just right. In that interplay lay its beauty, but also its challenge. Wolfje wasn’t easily tamed.
The violin, built by G.B. Guadagnini in 1770, which I am privileged to play thanks to the Musical Instrument Fund, has a completely different character. Whereas the Lupot demanded direction, the Guadagnini invites you to listen.An instrument of this caliber always sounds good, but if I don’t play with a spirit of service, I can hear that there’s “a thin layer of dust on the sound.” But when I play with calm and focus, it reveals its full sound: warm, open, and honest. The Dominique Peccatte bow is the silent link between thought and sound—the brush that brings the colors to life.
The journey to finding this magnificent instrument was a long, collaborative one. Frits Schutte guided me with his keen ears and calm confidence, and Andreas Post, who cared for my Lupot for years, knew exactly what sound I was hoping to find. But I am also immensely grateful to all the other staff members of the Musical Instrument Fund. Without their experience and dedication, this encounter would not have been possible.
The fact that I am able to play these instruments thanks to the legacy of the singer Hans Zomer and the Tettelaar collection fills me with deep gratitude. The Musical Instrument Fund preserves not only instruments but also stories—and makes it possible for musicians to continue to grow in sound, depth, and humanity.
“Her playing is infectious and disarming,” wrote NRC Handelsblad. The Seattle Post called itself “fortunate to have heard her play,” and the Singapore Times described her as “a world-class soloist of magisterial technique and golden tone.”
Violinist Carla Leurs is among the most versatile musicians of her generation: a soloist with masterful technical skill, a warm, communicative tone, and an unmistakable artistic vision.During the 2024–2025 season, she served as music director of Re:Sound Singapore, where she conducted Beethoven’s First Symphony and shone as a soloist in Bernstein’s *West Side Story Suite* for violin and strings. With the NDR Philharmonie, she collaborated with recorder player Maurice Steger, leading the orchestra from the first chair while also performing as a soloist. She also performed violin concertos by Bach, Vivaldi, and Pisendel with Phion’s Baroque ensemble Himmelsburg.
Outside the concert hall, she seeks to connect with people by bringing music to unusual venues—from pop festivals to asylum-seeker centers—where she shares music’s transformative power with a wide audience. For example, last season she served as musical director of a musical theater production in which thousands of children were introduced to classical music for the first time, and she herself was deeply moved during a concert at an asylum seekers’ center, which she performed together with the Britten Youth Orchestra.
In addition to her international performing activities, Carla is a professor of violin and chamber music at the Utrecht Conservatory, where she guides young musicians in finding their own voice.
Carla began playing the violin at the age of six and studied for many years with Coosje Wijzenbeek. She continued her studies at the Royal Conservatory and at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Donald Weilerstein and Itzhak Perlman. She is a laureate of, among others, the Oskar Back Competition, the Princess Christina Competition, the Isang Yun Competition in South Korea, and the Juilliard Concerto Competition—which led to her debut at Lincoln Center—and she also won first prize and the audience prize at the Tibor Varga Competition in Sion.
Photo: Foppe Schut
