On 30 October 2021 Simone Lamsma plays the famous Violin Concerto by the Finn Jean Sibelius. Bas Wiegers conducts the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Prokofiev's dark Sixth Symphony and the Dutch premiere of the orchestral work Roar of Nature by the Chinese composer Xu Ke are also on the programme.

Commitment to unknown repertoire
For every violinist, Sibelius' Violin Concerto is standard repertoire. But since she performed at the Matinee for the first time in 2010, Simone Lamsma has mainly played lesser-known solo concertos with us: Benjamin Britten, Karol Szymanowski, Sofia Gubaidoelina (both her violin concertos), Dmitri Shostakovich, Bohuslav Martinů, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Prokofiev, Karl Amadeus Hartmann... Her most recent performance was a true heroic act. On 6 March 2021 the originally scheduled Alina Ibragimova had to cancel - due to corona the border was closed. Lamsma stepped in, and managed to rehearse Roslavets' extremely complex First Violin Concerto in one and a half weeks time!
She wants to develop continuously, she told in an interview early this year: "I think that the importance of innovation, the power of music and the power to experience such an experience together is unique to the Matinee. It's a kind of community that is really tremendously open and curious."

Love for the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
The Leeuwarden-born violinist also feels a strong bond with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. In the jubilee book The Power of Inspired Collaboration - 75 Years Radio Philharmonic Orchestra published last year, she enthusiastically recalls the many joint projects: "My debut with the Radio Symphony Orchestra, my Concertgebouw debut, my introduction to Jaap van Zweden, the Queen's Day concert with the Radio Chamber Philharmonic, which at the time was fighting for its right to exist (unfortunately to no avail), the recording of Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto with James Gaffigan...".

Enjoy Sibelius' Violin Concerto on 30 October. It opens with a shimmering carpet of strings: as if you can hear an icy wind whipping through the trees. And British musicologist Donald Tovey heard a 'polonaise for polar bears' in the ferocious folk dance rhythm of the finale (although you are more likely to find brown bears than polar bears in Finland).

NTR Saturday Matinee 30 October 2021, 14.15 hours
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Bas Wiegers - conductor
Simone Lamsma - violin

Xu - Roar of nature (Dutch premiere)
Sibelius - Violin concerto
Prokofiev - Sixth Symphony

Order tickets

The interview mentioned, as well as Simone Lamsma's performance of Martinů's Second Violin Concerto, can be found on the website of the NTR ZaterdagMatinee.