I am a baroque cello and viola da gamba player. I cannot imagine my life without any of them, so I play both.
I was never seduced by symphony orchestras, but always preferred chamber music, where - in my understanding - cello had more of a voice . This and falling in love with the sound of gut strings decided of choosing a path of the historically informed performance. I studied baroque cello first in Berlin (2005-2007) and then in The Hague (2008-2011) and viola da gamba in Wroclaw (2006-2010) and The Hague (as a minor).
I was lucky enough to have been chosen for many great apprentice schemes and to cooperate with orchestras such as Arte dei Suonatori, Concerto Copenhagen, Opera2Day, Collegium Musicum Den Haag (now New Collegium), Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra. With some of those I also recorded. Some examples may be "The Seasons" by J. Haydn (SIGCD480) of Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and Gabrieli Consort & Players and a DVD of "Four Seasons" by A.Vivaldi with Arte dei Suonatori and Kati Debretzeni. I cooperated with chamber music groups as Concordi Musici (we were, among all, in the finals of the competition of the Handel Festspiele in Gottingen) and Reicha Ensemble (performances in Czech and at Fringe concert of The Utrecht Early Music Festival). I played solo recitals, mostly with Bach suites for unaccompanied cello, on festivals in Poland and Ukraine, and during the course where I have been teaching baroque cello for 6 years in Normandie (France).
At the moment I am focusing mainly on continuo playing and chamber music. I am a member of a fortepiano trio together with Antoinette Lohman and Liene Stradina, which focuses mostly on chamber music connected to The Hague around 1800. We are planning to record a CD soon.
I have been doing all of the above on my own instrument before, which was difficult, as it is more of a classical cello. Thus perfect for my trio, but for continuo not so much. The instrument I have on loan from Het Muziekinstrumentenfonds- baroque cello made by Guust Francois in 2008 - is opening so many new possibilities for me. It makes a huge difference to play continuo part on an instrument which is properly set up for this purpose. Suddenly a lot of things are possible to translate from my head into the music. Having this cello means I can participate in projects like a CD recording in Norway last May, with a Telemann cantata. I am very happy to have been given such an opportunity.
