Janine Jansen 'The Four Seasons' album

Janine Jansen’s London debut in November 2002, accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, attracted immediate worldwide attention. A few months before she worked for the third time with Valery Gergiev who invited her to the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg in June 2003. In February 2003 she signed an exclusive recording contract with the Decca Music Group, and her first album received great critical acclaim, including a Five Star review in BBC Music Magazine. Her second Decca disc is due for international release in mid-2005, and will include Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

Janine Jansen took up the violin at the age of six, and made her concert debut aged ten. Her first lessons were from Coosje Wijzenbeek, then Philipp Hirshhorn at the Conservatory of Utrecht. Following her graduation (cum laude) she studied with Boris Belkin. Her debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 1997 resulted in an immediate re-invitation, as well as invitations from all over Europe. In the spring of 2000 she made her Japanese debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev, who re-invited her personally for a performance of the Tchaikovsky Concerto with his Kirov Orchestra. The same year she made her South American debut in the famous Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.

Janine Jansen quickly gained the reputation of one of the foremost young violinists on the international concert stages, performing in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Brussels Philharmonic Society, the Cologne and Berlin Philharmonie, the Cité de la Musique, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall in New York, and in London, the Wigmore Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms. Her concert schedule regularly includes orchestras such as the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, The Hague Residentie Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, Berlin Radio, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé, the BBC Orchestras and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductors Janine Jansen has worked with include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Frans Brüggen, Mikko Franck, Valery Gergiev, Gianandrea Noseda, Sakari Oramo, Evgenii Svetlanov, Hans Vonk and Jaap van Zweden.

Since 1998 Janine has been a member of Spectrum Concerts Berlin, an important chamber music series in the Berlin Philharmonie. Her partners at various festivals and on other occasions have included Yuri Bashmet, Itamar Golan, Mischa Maisky, Paul Meyer, Truls Mørk, Christian Poltéra, Menahem Pressler, Julian Rachlin and Kathryn Stott. Janine is artistic leader of the International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht, which had its first very successful edition in December 2003. In September 2004, through votes from the Dutch public via internet, telephone and voting forms, she received the Edison Classic Public Award 2004 for her debut album on Decca. The Award was given to her at a celebration concert at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the entire event was broadcast live on national television. In September 2003 she received the Dutch Music Prize from the Ministry of Culture – the highest distinction an artist can receive in The Netherlands.The outstanding instrument being used by Janine Jansen is the violin by Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1727, ‘Barrere’ on extended loan through intermediation of The Stradivari Society® of Chicago and the Elise Mathilde Fund. The Stradivari Society® is a unique organization that supports the very highest level of string playing by assisting Patrons who own the most precious antique Italian instruments and choose to make them available to artists of exceptional talent and ability.

“...an artist lively, fresh and intuitive: the young Dutch violinist Janine Jansen. Tension and yearning were spun into every note of her opening phrase in Bruch’s concerto; her second phrase, effortlessly spanning the dynamic spectrum in a single breath, proved just as electrifying. The main theme itself quickly burst into flames, helped along by its moments of punchy double-stopping and aggressively dotted rhythms. Here was no hollow virtuoso display either: she was feeling this well-worn music deep in her heart. The adagio melody throbbed with hushed expectation before easing magically into balm. In the gypsy finale fingers flew, the knees bent, and at times she risked bowing her hair: but the outcome was dance and joy.”
The Times, March 26, 2004

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Tracklisting

Janine Jansen - The Four Seasons