Douwe Eisses
cello, cello bow
My name is Douwe Eisses, and I’m a cellist. I play a beautiful cello and use a bow provided by the Musical Instrument Fund. I find that truly special. The cello has a warm, rich sound and is incredibly pleasant to play. It’s an instrument that gives me plenty of opportunities to grow and further develop musically. So I’m very happy with it.
My Bio
Douwe Eisses is a Dutch cellist who grew up in Delft. He is currently studying at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, where he is in his third year of the bachelor’s program in cello under Professor Giovanni Gnocchi.
Douwe started playing the cello at the age of four. He initially played the violin but soon switched to the cello because he liked that you could sit on a chair while playing it. He received his first cello lessons from Wiesje van Eersel and later from Matthijs Broersma in the Young Talent Class at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.
He has participated in various national and international competitions. For example, he won prizes at the Princess Christina Competition, took second prize at the Britten Cello Competition, and in 2024 won first prize at the International Competition for Young Musicians in Ljubljana. In 2025, he also won first prize at the International Davidoff Cello Competition in Riga, where he performed Camille Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto in A minor as a soloist with Sinfonietta Riga.
Douwe has taken masterclasses with various cellists, including Pieter Wispelwey, Gregor Horsch, Torleif Thedéen, Jakob Koranyi, László Fenyö, Larissa Groeneveld, Harro Ruijsenaars, Johan van Iersel, and Giovanni Gnocchi.
In addition to performing as a soloist, Douwe also enjoys playing in orchestras and takes great pleasure in performing chamber music. For several years, he served as principal cellist of the Netherlands Youth Orchestra. He also played in the Jonge Strijkers Amsterdam orchestra, where, in addition to his role as section leader, he regularly performed as a soloist with the orchestra. For example, he performed Vivaldi’s Double Concerto at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Camille Saint-Saëns’s *Le Cygne* live on Radio 4 from the Spiegelzaal of the Concertgebouw. Since 2025, Douwe has been a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO).
In addition to music, Douwe loves tennis and enjoys skiing in the winter.
