Janine Jansen

Janine Jansen first appeared with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 1997, an event that marked the arrival of an important new violin virtuoso. Outside the Netherlands she remained little known until her London debut in 2002, when she performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra led by Vladimir Ashkenazy. Engagements with Europe’s and America’s leading orchestras soon followed, and in 2003 she received the Dutch Music Prize, the country’s highest artistic honor. Critics have praised her powerful technique, pure tone, and the imaginative yet assured manner in which she shapes her readings, placing her among the foremost violinists of her generation. Her repertory spans works by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, and Beethoven alongside pieces by Robert Helps and Richard Dubugnon. In 2021 she released the album 12 Stradivari, recorded with Sir Antonio Pappano and featuring performances on twelve surviving instruments by the celebrated luthier.

Jansen was born in Soest, Netherlands, on January 7, 1978. She began violin lessons at the age of six and later pursued advanced training at the University of Utrecht under Philippe Hirschhorn, Coosje Wijzenbeek, and Boris Belkin. After her Concertgebouw debut she gradually expanded her activities abroad. From 1998 onward she appeared regularly in Spectrum Concerts Berlin, the chamber-music series presented by the Berlin Philharmonic, and in 2001 she played the Brahms Violin Concerto, Op. 77, with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. Between 2002 and 2004 she held the title of BBC New Generation Artist. Her 2002 London performance not only opened further concert doors but also paved the way for several well-received recordings. In 2003 she established the International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht and has remained its guest artistic director ever since. During the 2007–2008 season she made striking first appearances with the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, followed in October 2009 by a highly regarded performance of the Britten Violin Concerto, Op. 15, with the Berlin Philharmonic. Continued collaborations with the Concertgebouw brought her the Johannes Vermeer Prize from the Dutch government in 2018. Since 2019 she has served as a violin professor at the Haute École de Musique Vaud Valais Fribourg.

Naxos released her debut recording in 2003, devoted to music by John Harbison. Decca then issued two successive albums: a collection of assorted concert pieces titled Janine Jansen and a reading of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Although the Vivaldi disc sparked debate, it achieved strong digital sales and earned an Echo Award in 2006. Further Echo Awards recognized her Decca recordings of the Mendelssohn and Bruch concertos in 2007 and the Beethoven and Britten concertos in 2009. In 2011 Decca brought out her first recital album, Beau Soir, a program of French works with pianist Itamar Golan. In 2017 she joined Martin Fröst, Lucas Debargue, and Torleif Thedéen on a Sony Classical account of Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps. Violin dealer J&A Beare’s managing director, Steven Smith, invited Jansen to London in 2020 for a project involving twelve surviving Stradivari violins. Despite the logistical hurdles created by the coronavirus pandemic, she practiced on each instrument and selected repertoire suited to its particular sound. The resulting Decca album, 12 Stradivari, appeared in 2021 with Pappano as her frequent collaborator at the keyboard, and director Gerry Fox documented the undertaking in the film Janine Jansen: Falling for Stradivari.