Dutch violinist Hawijch Elders (1998) is considered one of the most promising young musicians of her generation.
In June 2025, she won First Prize at the Premio Internazionale Antonio Mormone, one of the most prestigious international violin competitions today. The finals took place in Milan, with performances at venues including the iconic Teatro alla Scala, where she performed Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1 under the baton of Massimo Zanetti.
Since September 2022, Hawijch has been Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, where she studies with Augustin Dumay. She is a regular guest on NPO Klassiek and has appeared on the television program Podium Klassiek. As a chamber musician, she has performed with artists such as Sol Gabetta, Valeriy Sokolov, Bertrand Chamayou, and Frank Braley.
In the 2025–2026 season, she will make her debut with Phion, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the FORM Orchestra, and she will give a solo recital at the Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam.
In 2023, she made her debut at BOZAR in Brussels with a performance of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 alongside the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Augustin Dumay. As a soloist, she has also performed with, among others, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, the Hof Symphony Orchestra, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, the Orquestra Clássica da Madeira, and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.
In May 2023, she won First Prize at the 8th International Henri Marteau Violin Competition, including three special prizes for her interpretations of works by Bach, Reger, and Marteau. In October of that year, she was named a laureate of the renowned Premio Paganini Competition in Genoa.
In 2021, Hawijch won First Prize at the Leonid Kogan International Violin Competition for Young Violinists, as well as Second Prize and special prizes at the Odessa International Violin Competition. She was a laureate of Dutch Classical Talent during the 2021–2022 season. Previously, she won prizes at the 37th Premio Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition and at the “Oskar Back” National Violin Competition (both in 2018). In December 2019, she was awarded the prestigious Kersjes Violin Scholarship by the Kersjes Fund at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Since 2016, Hawijch has been studying with Ilya Grubert at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where she completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees cum laude. Prior to that, she studied with Benzion Shamir.
Hawijch plays a violin by Gennaro Gagliano (Naples, ca. 1755) and a bow by Dominique Pecatte (Paris, 19th century), both on loan from the Musical Instrument Fund. The violin is part of the “Willem G. Vogelaar Collection” and the bow is part of the “Tettelaar Collection.”
