The Dutch virtuoso Carla Leurs began her violin studies at the age of 6. One year later, she was invited to perform for the Queen of the Netherlands in a concert broadcasted on national televison. Ms. Leurs entered the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague at the age of 14 and furthered her musical education at the Musikakademie Basel and the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2005 she finished her studies at the Juilliard School, as a student of Itzhak Perlman and Donald Weilerstein. Currently she receives intensive coaching from Daniël Gaede, former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic, at the Hochschule für Musik in Nürnberg.

Ms. Leurs was awarded the first prize at the International “Jean Francaix Competition” in Paris (2006), as well as both the First Prize and the coveted Audience Award at the Tibor Varga International Competition in Sion, Switzerland (2001). Other notable awards include prizes at “Isang Yun” Gyeongnam Competition in South Korea, Nuri Iyicil Competition in Turkey, The American String Teachers Competition, the Dutch National Violin Competition and the Juilliard Mozart Concerto Competition prize that culminated in her New York debut with the Juilliard Symphony.

After winning the national edition of the Princess Christina Competition in 1993, she was invited to make her debut with the Netherlands Youth Orchestra. Since then she has performed with orchestras throughout Europe, Russia, Asia and the US. Highlights include Shostakovich first Violin Concerto at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with Maestro Vassily Sinaisky, Brahms Double Concerto with cellist Sol Gabetta, and Mozart's 4th Concerto with Maestro Carlos Kalmar at New York's Lincoln Center. She performed in the “Artist International Debut Series” in Carnegie Hall, as well as the “New Masters on Tour” Series in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Tallinn, Estonia. She appears regularly at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

 

Carla Leurs has performed at many of the world’s leading music festivals including Verbier (Switzerland), the Geneva Summer Festival, the Tibor Varga Festival, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, the Sakharov Festival (Russia) as well as the first “Perlman Chamber Music Program” in New York.

This past season Ms. Leurs served as First Concertmaster of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic under the direction of Jaap van Zweden. She also appearded as concertmaster with the Britten-Pears Orchestra at the Aldeburgh Festival, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Santiago de Chile, and Holland Symfonia.

The outstanding instruments being used by Carla is a violin of Nicholas Lupot of Paris (1808) on loan from the National Musical Instrument Foundation in Amsterdam.