Judith van Driel

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to play the violin. At first, I played with my sisters; later, with friends from youth orchestras. As concertmaster of the Ricciotti Ensemble, I learned how to lead, but above all, I saw just how moving it can be to touch people with the music you make.In addition to my studies in Amsterdam with Kees Koelmans and Peter Brunt, I spent a year studying in Vienna with Günter Pichler of the Alban Berg Quartet.As a violinist, there are so many paths you can take. For years now, I’ve taken great pleasure in teaching at the Amsterdam Conservatory, where I learn at least as much from my students as they do from me. I played with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for a year as part of the Orchestra Academy. That was a fantastic experience. Still, I became increasingly convinced that there was nothing I wanted more than to play in a string quartet. That’s why I’ve been playing in the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam for 17 years now. It’s wonderful for the four of us to have fun on stage and to share the most beautiful music there is with our audience.

Since September 2017, I’ve been playing the “Douglas Kane violin” made by Francesco Goffriller. It’s a tremendous honor to have this beautiful violin—which was owned by Bouw Lemkes for decades—on loan. A few years ago, I performed two duos in 31-tone tuning by Henk Badings. I worked on those pieces with Bouw at the time. It was an experience I’ll always remember, which makes it even more special that I now get to play his violin. The violin is a true chamber music violin: it has tremendous depth and offers endless possibilities for tonal color. In short: a dream violin!