Janine Jansen

Janine Jansen (born in 1978 in Soest) is a Dutch violinist.

Biography

Jansen began to study the violin at age 6. She studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philipp Hirshhorn, and Boris Belkin. Her father and both her brothers are also musicians. Her mother is a classical singer.

Jansen appeared as soloist with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland in 2001, where she performed the Brahms Violin Concerto. She opened the BBC Proms in 2005. When performing live, she is sometimes rather adventurous with her performance, with emphasis on emotional accents more than on precision or adherence to status quo.

She has eschewed tradition by recording with only 5 solo strings rather than an orchestra, including her brother as cellist and father playing continuo. In live concerts, she has received standing ovations from enthusiastic audiences, such as in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra 2006 concert in Berlin's "Waldbühne Amphitheater", with a full attendance of 25,000, and in Los Angeles at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008 to a sold out audience.

Jansen currently uses the 1727 Stradivari "Barrere" violin, on extended loan by the Stradivari Society of Chicago. [ [http://www.stradivarisociety.com/ The Stradivari Society ] ] She has begun her own chamber music festival in Utrecht.

Jansen and her former boyfriend, the violinist Julian Rachlin, have collaborated in chamber music performances. [ [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/columnists/david_patrick_stearns/16661791.htm David Patrick Stearns, "Two fine violinists set aside competition for couplehood". "Philadelphia Inquirer", 11 February 2007.] ]

Recordings

As of January 2006, she has recorded two mainstream CDs (one also a hybrid SACD). The first is a collection of encore pieces, conducted by Barry Wordsworth, the second a chamber ensemble rendition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. In particular, her Vivaldi recording has seen great success in terms of downloading sales. [ [http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article355683.ece Michael Church, "Janine Jansen: Queen of the download". "The Independent", 4 April 2006.] ]

She has recorded the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting. In October 2006, she released her third album. This CD features the Mendelssohn and Bruch Violin Concertos, along with the Bruch "Romance for Viola", with conductor Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

In 2007 she released her 4th album, Bach: Inventions & Partitia. [ [http://www.janinejansen.com/recordings5.php Bach: Inventions & Partitia] ]

In 2008, she recorded a live session for the iTunes music store consisting of Bach's Trio Sonata in G Major and Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord No. 6 In G Major.

References

External links

* [http://www.janinejansen.com/ Official Website]