Biography
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 Cleveland Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, as a student of Itzhak Perlman and Donald Weilerstein. She also received intensive coaching from Daniël Gaede, former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic.
Ms. Leurs was awarded both the First Prize and the coveted Audience Award at the Tibor Varga International Competition in Sion, Switzerland (2001), as well as the first prize at the International “Jean Francaix Competition” in Paris (2006). 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, Paganini’s first Violin Concerto at the Meistersingerhalle in Nurnberg as well as on tour in the USA 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.
Ms. 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. She played chamber music with well-known artists such as violinist Janine Jansen, cellist Sol Gabetta, flautist Jacques Zoon, and principal players of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Starting 2010, Ms. Leurs will be concertmaster of the Sinfonieorchester Basel in Switzerland, with Denis Russel Davies as chief conductor. Before this she served as concertmaster of the Radio Chamber Philharmonic under the direction of Jaap van Zweden and also appeared as guest concertmaster with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Holland Symfonia as well as the Philharmonic Orchestra of Santiago de Chile. 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.
