Hi, I’m Vivian Giesbertz, and I started playing an instrument from the Musical Instrument Fund in the fall of 2019. In 2023, I was able to choose an even better violin, and in 2025, a better bow.
I’m currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany, with Ulrike-Anima Mathé.
I started taking violin lessons at age four with Joke ter Haaf. After that, Tamara Mkrtychyan took me under her wing.
Since 2015, I have taken lessons from Julia Dinerstein, and in 2017, I also studied with Benzion Shamir. I continued taking lessons from them until the summer of 2021. I played in the Young Talent Orchestra under the direction of Mikhail Zemtsov until December 2021. In January 2020, I was accepted into the Academie Muzikaal Talent in Utrecht, where I remained until July 2021. From 2021 to 2025, I studied for my bachelor’s degree at the Utrecht Conservatory under Carla Leurs.
I have now moved to Germany to pursue my master’s degree after successfully completing my bachelor’s. I am currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold with Ulrike-Anima Mathé.
During the final year of my bachelor’s program, I was extremely busy. In January, I served as concertmaster during the NJO’s winter tour. In February, I was a finalist in the Grachten Festival Conservatory Competition. In June, I performed my final exam, which was graded “excellent.” After my final exam, I was selected as a candidate for the Steyerberg Music Prize—and I won it!
In addition to regular lessons, I have also taken masterclasses with Boris Kushnir, Vadim Gluzman, Boris Garlitsky, Svetlana Makarova, Pavel Vernikov, Ilya Grubert, Eliot Lawson, Daniel Rowland, Mikhail Kugel, and Mikhail Zemtsov.
I gained experience in chamber music during the International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht under the direction of Janine Jansen, the Stift Festival, featuring Daniel Rowland among others, and at the Winter Evenings on the Amstel, where I had the privilege of performing fantastic music from *The Nutcracker* with, among others, children from the Gnessin State Academy in Moscow. At the conservatory, I played as much chamber music as I possibly could, and at the end of my bachelor’s program, I even founded a string orchestra together with other students at the Utrecht Conservatory.
In May 2023, I had the honor of representing the Netherlands at the European Music School Union’s anniversary celebration as part of an ensemble with seven other young musicians from across Europe.
I have also participated in a number of (international) competitions:
first prize in 2012 at the Eisstedfod Competition
second prize in 2014 at the Florence Mini Competition
Second prize in 2018 at the Florence Junior Competition, second prize in 2019 at the Florence Junior Competition
the 2019 Premio Campus Delle Arti
the Encouragement Prize and the Gaudeamus Music Week Prize at the Princess Christina Competition 2020
First prize at the Archipel Competition in March 2020, where I had the opportunity to perform in Eindhoven’s fantastic concert hall
First prize at the Klassiek Talentenloods
Graduate Prize at the Ukrainian “Maestro-Fest”
First Prize at the Princess Christina Competition in the Regional Final, as well as the Semifinal Prize, the PCC Academy Prize, the Gaudeamus Music Week Prize, and the Masterclass Prize.
Finalist in the GrachtenFestival Conservatory Competition in 2025
In 2019, I was able to fulfill one of my biggest dreams by performing as a soloist with an orchestra. I even had the opportunity to do this three times: twice with the Dordrecht Philharmonic Orchestra and once with the Young Talent Orchestra.
In November 2022, I had the opportunity to perform as a soloist with an orchestra once again—this time in the main hall of Tivoli Vredenburg! This was with the Utrecht Conservatory String Orchestra.
