Welcome to my website

I am Eva and I work as a freelance double bassist and violone player. I specialized in historically informed performance practise on period instruments for music from the Baroque period up to the late romantic era. Next to that, I love playing modern and contemporary music.

Early music groups I play with are, amongst others, Main Barockorchester, L’Orfeo Barockorchester, Stuttgart Barockorchester & Kammerchor Stuttgart and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. On modern bass, I have played with  ASKO|Schönberg and the Residentie Orchestra. I perform music theatre at the Theater Pfütze in Nuremberg, and I have my own ensembles DUO Kirsti & Eva and Random Control Ensemble.

Thanks to donations from the Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrument and the Adriana Jacoba Fund, I could purchase two double basses to use for  historically informed performances: One anonymous instrument from around 1890 and a copy of a Stadlmann, made by Christiane Mitschke. Next to that, I am grateful to play a beautiful modern instrument from the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation, made by Harry Jansen. 

Concerts 2024/2025

Upcoming

September 7 | trigonale – festival der alte musik
“Un Allemand a Paris” music by G.Ph. Telemann.
19:00, Rathaus St.Veit/Glan (AT)

September 13| trigonale – festival der alte musik
H.I.F. von Biber – Mensa Sonora
19:00, Rathaus St.Veit/Glan (AT)

September 14 & 15 | Ensemble Almanach
“Schönheit und Staatsversagen”
Theater, Haar, München (DE)
Bibliotheksaal, Polling (DE)

September 20 | L’Orfeo Barockorchester
A. Bruckner: Mass in d, Psalm 112,
Alter Dom, Linz (AT)

October 11 – 20 | Theater Pfütze
“aus heiterem Himmel”
Theater Pfütze, Nürnberg (DE)

October 25 & 27 | trigonale – festival der alte musik
“Eine versunkene Welt” newly composed musik for a silent movie from 1922.
19:00 Rathaus, St. Veit/Glan (AT)

November 1 – 3 | Hassler Consort
W.A. Mozart – Apollo & Hyacint
19:00, Kornhaus, Ulm
18:00, kleine goldener Saal, Augsburg

November 4 – 10 | Theater Pfütze
“aus heiterem Himmel”
Theater Pfütze, Nürnberg (DE)

November 16 & 17 | Nürnberg Barock
“I never wanted to be a star”: how Perseus, Castor, Pollux and Calisto made it to heaven. Excerpts from “Persée” by Lully, “Castor & Pollux” by Rameau and “La Calisto” by Cavalli.

November 24 | L’Orfeo Barockorchester
A. Bruckner: Mass in d.
17:00, Alter Dom, Linz (AT)

December 19 – 22 | Barockorchester & Kammerchor Stuttgart / F. Bernius
Händel – The Messiah
Pamplona, Alicante (SP), Ludwigsburg (DE)

February 2 | Concerto Köln
“Die Leipziger Wunderkinder”
F. Mendelssohn, R. Schumann, C. Schumann.
16:00, Philharmonie, Köln (DE)

Past

Aug 16 | Random Control Ensemble
Classical music meets free improv on double bass, piano and live electronics.
19:30, Burg Grünsberg, Altdorf bei Nürnberg (DE)

August 2 – 5 | LA FONTE
“Liberté”, C.Ph.E. Bach, W.A. Mozart, G. Cambini at Summerwinds Festival münsterland, concerts in Münster, Steinfurt, Nordkirchen (DE)

July 12 & 13 | Random Control Ensemble
Classical music meets free improv on double bass, piano and live electronics.
20:00 Egidienkirche, Nürnberg
20:00 St. Paul, Fürth (DE)

July 4 | l’arpa festante
Händel/Mozart – Messiah
tbd, Konstanz (DE)

Mai 31 | Pera Ensemble
“Danse l’Europe” at the Haendel Festspiele
19:00, Ulrichskirche, Halle (DE)

April 25 | Barockorchester & Kammerchor Stuttgart
“Faszination Neapel”, music by Pergolesi, led by Frieder Bernius
20 Uhr, Leonhardskirche, Stuttgart (DE)

March 30 | Concerto Ispirato
“Ins Dunkel ins Licht” J.S. Bach – St. Johns Passion and Easter Oratorio
22:00, Markuskirche, Hannover (DE)

March 24 & 29 | Main Barockorchester
J.S. Bach – Matthäuspassion
time tbd Dom, Wetzlar (DE)
time tbd, Coburg (DE)

March 16 – 20 | Barockorchester & Kammerchor Stuttgart
J.S. Bach – B minor Mass led by Frieder Bernius.
Rottenburg, Stuttgart (DE) Varese, Reggio Emilia, Porderone (IT)

March 10| Concerto Ispirato
J.S. Bach – Johannespassion
St. Paulus, Großburgwedel (DE)

March 9 | Concerto Ispirato
J.S. Bach – Matthäuspassion
Gartenkirche St. Marien, Hannover (DE)

February 14 | Borgo Ensemble
“Klangverteilung” Music by Ralf Bauer for 3 double basses and bass clarinet.
18:30, Kunstvilla, Nürnberg

December 17 | St.Mang Kempten
J.S. Bach – Weihnachtsoratorium
St. Mang-Kirche, Kempten (DE)

December 8 & 10 | Concerto Ispirato
J.S. Bach – Weihnachtsoratorium
Immanuelkirche, Laatzen
St. Nicolai, Alfeld (DE)

December 1 & 2 | Nürnberg Barock
“Natale Stravagante” with Moritz Görg,
Dec 1: 19:30 Orangerie, Erlangen
Dec 2: 15:30 & 17:30 Kirche St. Jakob, Nürnberg (DE)

November 24 & 25 | Pera Ensemble
“Music for the one God: Femina”
Munich & Dresden (DE)

November 17 & 19 | Residentie Orkest
Schubert, Dutilleux, Schumann, with Jean-Guihen Queyras, led by Anja Bihlmaier.
20:15 Amare, Den Haag
14:15 TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht (NL)

November 10 & 11 | Residentie Orkest
Tsjaikovski, Prokofiev with Bomsori Kim, led by Michal Nesterowicz.
12:30 & 20:15 Amare, Den Haag
20:15 Concertgebouw, Amsterdam (NL)

About

I work as a freelance double bassist and violone player. I studied double bass in Utrecht with Quirijn van Regteren Altena and historical bass/violone with Margaret Urquhart. Early music ensembles I play with at the moment are, amongst others, Main Barockorchester, Barockorchester & Kammerchor Stuttgart, the L’Orfeo Barockorchester. In 2018, I started performing with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment as part of their Experience Scheme, which has resulted in more performances there as a substitute player.

On the modern double bass, I love playing modern and contemporary music. Together with violinist Kirsti Apajalathi, I form a duo called DUO Kirsti & Eva, and I play free improvised music with the Random Control Ensemble (with Wolfgang Eckert on piano and Paul Bießmann on synthesizer/electronics). Moreover, I work as a guest player with the ASKO|Schönberg ensemble in Amsterdam and the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague.

I was born (1988) and raised in Amsterdam and started violin lessons at the age of 6. I  had the privilege to attend a high school one block away from the Concertgebouw so I regularly attended concerts there as a teenager. My interest in the double bass started in my youth orchestra and at the age of 16, I switched from the first violins to the basses, where I felt in the right place. Nevertheless, I –wrongly– thought a musical was not for me, so I decided to study law at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Luckily I met Ying Lai Green, bassist from the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom I had lessons for 4 years. Thanks to her support and encouragement, I not only got accepted for double bass studies but I also finished my bachelor’s degree in law.

During my studies in classical double bass with Quirijn van Regteren Altena (Utrecht Conservatory), I have received amazing lessons in historically informed performance practice from cellist Viola de Hoog, violinist Antoinette Lohmann and bassist and gambist Joshua Cheatham.  I love the combination of delivering strong emotional expressions and intellectual, historical knowledge. 

On the modern bass I received masterclasses from world-class bassists such as Joel Quarrington, Jeff Bradetich, Edicson Ruiz and James Oesi.

The modern double bass I play is a Gagliano model built by Harry Jansen in 2008, borrowed from the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation. Thanks to generous donations from the Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrument and the Adriana Jacoba Fund, I could purchase two double basses to use for  historically informed performances: One anonymous instrument from around 1890 and a copy of a Viennese bass by Stadlmann, made by Christiane Mitschke.

Media and links

Ensemble Altera Pars

Excerpts from the “Sinfonia in F” by Sebastian George, from the 1st and the 3rd movement. Live concert at the WDR, Cologne on October 4th, 2023, played by myself and my colleagues of Ensemble Altera Pars.


ASKO|Schönberg ensemble

Full performance of Antarctica – Sydney Festival 2023 by Sydney Chamber Opera and ASKO|Schönberg Ensemble. Recorded January 2023


Live performance of iLolli-pop, by and with Alex Paxton, recorded on September 2022. Gaudeamus Muziekweek, TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht.


Trigonale – Festival der Alten Musik 2023

Dido, Regina di Cartagine by Guido Morini

recorded October 2023

DUO Kirsti & Eva

We are very pleased to be the first performers of a new piece by Rieteke Hölscher! She wrote “Tantalizing” for our duo, a beautiful and poetic piece. We hope you like it as much as we do!



The local newspaper Vierklank wrote a review of our concert in Bilthoven on July 9th, 2021.
OPEN Rotterdam made a short video item of our backyard concerts in Rotterdam on April 28th, 2021. Both were part of our project, “Away from Home” for which we received funding from the Dutch Performing Arts Fund.


A live performance of the famous finnish tango “Täysikuu” by Valto Tynnilä and arranged by Kirsti.
Tango has been part of the cultural heritage of Finland since the start of the 20th century.

This melody “horse race” from China is traditionally played on erhu, a chinese violin but Kirsti made an arrangement for our duo.

Both videos have been recorded on July 10th, 2021 in the Buiksloterkerk in Amsterdam.



Reinhold Glière – Suite op. 39, Prelude.
with Kirsti Apajalahti
Recorded 31.08.2019 in Shelley’s beautiful parlour in Rotterdam.


Bremer Barockorchester



Giovanni Benedetto Platti
Concerto in G minor
with Alfredo Bernardini
Recorded 2.10.2020 in the “Unser Lieben Frauen” Church in Bremen.


Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto in C major, RV 443, with Dorothee Oberlinger.

Recorded 13.02.2020 in the “Unser Lieben Frauen” Church in Bremen.

Georg Philipp Telemann
Overture Suite in C major
Recorded 13.02.2020 in the “Unser Lieben Frauen” Church in Bremen.



Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment


Night Shift concert on 10.04.2018 at Conway Hall, London

W. A. Mozart – Horn concerto no. 1 – Rondo, with soloist Roger Montgomery


Concert on 11.11.2018 in the Royal Festival Hall, London
with Marin Alsop, conductor.

Vaughan Williams – Variations on a theme by Thomas Tallis
Brahms – Ein Deutsches Requiem

http:// https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00013xd


Double bass Quartet with James Oesi, Cody Takacs, Arjen Leendertz and myself.

M. Nyman – Knowing the Ropes

Arranged and recorded for VPRO Vrije Geluiden.


Ensemble La Favorita
Georg von Reutter – Sinfonia from La Betulia Liberata

Nürnberg Barock
www.nuernberg-barock.de

Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds
www.muziekinstrumentenfonds.nl

Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrument
www.stichtingeigenmuziekinstrument.nl