Lisa Jacobs

Lisa Jacobs (1985) started playing the violin when she was six years old. When she became eight, she was accepted in the Young Talent class of the Utrecht Conservatory by Joyce Tan. Now she is a masterstudent of Ilya Grubert, at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where she graduated cum laude in June 2006. She also takes lessons with Christoph Poppen at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Munich where she studies for her Konzertexam. This has been made possible by the foundation Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. Lisa has won several first prizes, for instance the Iordens Viooldagen (1996) and the Princess Christina Concours (1999) and achieved a place in “de Voorziening voor Jonge Excellerende Musici” (scholarship for young very talented musicians) in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002. February 2005, Lisa won the 2nd International Jascha Heifetz Violin Competition in Lithuania, where she received the Audience prize as well. Gidon Kremer was chairman of the Jury. The same year she got the prize from the Canossa masterclasses in Italy, to play some solo violin recitals troughout Italy.This prize was awarded to her in the years 2006 and 2007 as well. August 2008, Lisa has received de prestigious Grachtenfestivalprijs 2008, which enables her to play concerts in amongst others Sint-Petersburg, Russia. At the age of only 17, Lisa made her succesful debut in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Riccardo Chailly. November 2002, she got a scholarship, Kersjes van de Groenekanbeurs, for being a very promising young talented violinist.This summer of 2002 Lisa was invited to follow a summercamp in New York under Itzhak Perlman as one of the five students over a hundred auditions for these places. Lisa has played concert in all big halls of the Netherlands and made concert tours to Vienna (which was broadcasted live by radio Wien), Prague, Germany, Slovenia, Russia, Mexico, Ukraine, Lithuania, France, Portugal, the U.A.E., Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Italy where she made her debut as a soloist with the Bruch concerto in 2004 and has been re-invited many times ever since. Lisa had the honour to play with many big orchestra’s like the Residentie orchestra, the Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands, the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, the State Orchestra of Ukraine, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra en the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra. May 2006 Lisa played as a soloist with great success the Symphonie Espagnole by Lalo with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra in all the big halls of the Netherlands and has been re-invited to be their soloist again in February 2008. Many times she has been on national television and radio in many different programs. Lisa has followed masterclasses with Thomas Brandis, Julian Rachlin, Sylvie Gazeau, Herman Krebbers, David Takeno, Nelli Shkollnikova, Philip Graffin and Maxim Vengerov, which was broadcasted on Dutch television. Lisa plays a Rugieri violin from 1683, given to her on loan by a private person, as well as the beautiful Henry-bow she plays with. Next years engagements include concerts in Italy and the Netherlands with orchestra. She will record a cd with the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and a solo cd with compositions by J.S. Bach, Paganini and others. Besides her solo career Lisa loves to play chamber music. She plays for instance in a duo with the Russian pianist Helena Basilova and since 2007 with the Belarusian pianist Ksenia Kouzmenko and other young talented Dutch and European promising musicians. Lisa was invited to chambermusic festivals in the Netherlands and abroad where she played with famous musicians such as Daniel Wayenberg, Peter Frankl, Ilya Grubert, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Candida Thompson, Christoph Richter, Philippe Berrod and Janne Thomsen.