Amarins Wierdsma - Violin

Amarins Wierdsma was born in Utrecht in 1991 to a musical family. After starting aged two with the Suzuki Method, Amarins studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and with Vera Beths at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. In 2013 she moved to London to study with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, completing her Masters, Artist Diploma and Fellowship with distinction.

During her studies Amarins won numerous awards including the RPS Emily Anderson Prize, 3rd Prize at the 2013 Dutch National Violin Competition Oskar Back, the Young Music Talent of the Year Prize in the Netherlands (2007), 1st Prize at the Davina van Wely (2005), Iordens Viooldagen (2004) and Princess Christina Competitions. She has participated in Open Chamber Music and masterclasses at IMS Prussia Cove, the International Holland Music Sessions, Kronberg Academy, the East Neuk Festival and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. In 2017 Amarins was selected to perform at the Wigmore Hall during the finals of the Young Classical Artists Trust and together with her duo partner Edward Liddall she was a finalist in the 2019 Parkhouse Award at Wigmore Hall.

A committed chamber musician, Amarins is the first violinist of the Barbican Quartet. Formed in 2014 at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Quartet has appeared at numerous halls including more notably the Wigmore Hall in London, Het Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ in Amsterdam and Casa da Musica in Porto. Recently they received an outstanding first prize at the 71st ARD International String Quartet Competition, also being awarded the special prize for Best Interpretation of the commissioned work by Dobrinka Tabakova, the Genuin Classics CD production special prize, the GEWA prize and the Henle Urtext prize. This win follows a third prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition and the first prize at the Weimar Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition. This coming season the quartet will perform in the UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Canada, USA, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy.

As a soloist Amarins has performed across Europe, playing concertos at venues including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Cadogan Hall among others. Further afield she has given recitals on tour in the USA and Indonesia. Recently Amarins performed The Lark Ascending with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and she will record a CD in 2024.

Aside from her work as a soloist and chamber musician, Amarins is a sought-after concertmaster. She has lead orchestras such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Manchester Camerata and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. She plays on a Guadagnini violin from 1764 generously on loan from the National Music Instrument Foundation in Amsterdam.

Amarins performed Brahms' Violin Concerto with us in November 2023. To find out more about Amarins, visit her website.