Isabelle van Keulen (born 16 December 1966) is a Dutch violinist and violist, performing principally as a

chamber musician Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

but also as a concert violist. She founded the Isos Quartet in 1995. For more than 20 years, she collaborated with the pianist

Ronald Brautigam Ronald Brautigam (born 1954) is a Dutch concert pianist, best known for his performances of Beethoven's piano works on the fortepiano. Born in Amsterdam, Brautigam studied there with Jan Wijn (1971-79), then he left to study in London with John B ...

and the mezzo-soprano singer . In 2012, she became an educator at the

Lucerne School of Music The Lucerne School of Music (''Hochschule Luzern – Musik'') is a professional school for musicians located in Lucerne, Switzerland, and closely associated with the city's annual music festival. It is a division of the Lucerne University of Appli ...

. Since 2017, she has been artistic director at Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss in Germany.

Early life

Born in

Mijdrecht Mijdrecht is a town in the Netherlands with about 16,000 residents. It is located in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of De Ronde Venen, about west of the main A2 motorway (Netherlands), A2 motorway, between Utrecht (city), Utr ...

on 16 December 1966, Isabelle van Keulen was raised in an art-loving home in which her father was a painter and her sister a flautist. She began studying the violin when she was only six under Theo de Bakker. From 1979, she continued her studies at Alkwin College in

Uithoorn Uithoorn () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Population centres The municipality of Uithoorn consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: De Kwakel and Uithoorn. ''Dutch ...

and from 1984 at the Amsterdam Conservatoire under .

Career

In 1983, she won second prize in the Menuhin Young Violinists Competition and the following year was the winner of the

Eurovision Young Musicians The Eurovision Young Musicians (), often shortened to EYM, or Young Musicians, is a biennial classical music competition for European musicians that are aged between 12 and 21. It is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and broadcast ...

contest which was televised throughout Europe. In the early 1990s, she performed frequently as a concert violist, in 1995 she founded the Isos Quartet as first violinist, and in 1996 she founded the Delft International Music Festival which she directed until 2006. Van Keulen has taken a special interest in performing the works of less recognized modern composers, including

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, link=no, Alfred Garriyevich Shnitke; 24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer of Jewish-German descent. Among the most performed and re ...

Sofia Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (russian: Софи́я Асгáтовна Губaйду́лина, link=no , tt-Cyrl, София Әсгать кызы Гобәйдуллина; born 24 October 1931) is a Soviet-Russian composer and an established ...

Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szyman ...

Allan Pettersson Gustaf Allan Pettersson (19 September 1911 – 20 June 1980) was a Swedish composer and violist. He is considered one of the 20th century's most important Swedish composers, he was described as one of the last great symphonists, ...

Hans Henkemans Hans Henkemans (The Hague, 23 December 1913 – Nieuwegein, 29 December 1995) was a Dutch pianist, teacher, composer of classical music and psychiatrist. Henkemans was one of the most important Dutch composers of his time. From 1926 to 1931 he st ...

Erkki-Sven Tüür Erkki-Sven Tüür (born 16 October 1959) is an Estonian composer. Life and career Tüür () was born in Kärdla on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa. He studied flute and percussion at the Tallinn Music School from 1976 to 1980 and composition wit ...

and

Theo Loevendie Johan Theodorus Loevendie (born 17 September 1930 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch composer and clarinet player. Loevendie studied composition and clarinet at the music academy (Conservatorium) of Amsterdam. Initially he concentrated on jazz music. A ...

. Since 1992, her performances have been released on a wide selection of CDs.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keulen, Isabelle van 1966 births People from Mijdrecht Dutch classical violinists Dutch classical violists Women classical violinists Conservatorium van Amsterdam alumni Winners of Eurovision Young Musicians Living people