#Violinist #Hawijch #Elders #practices #prestigious #competition #counting #long #Ive #studying
The window in her room, says violinist Hawijch Elders (1998) on the telephone, extends from floor to ceiling and overlooks the forests of Waterloo. That of Napoleon’s Battle of Waterloo yes – just south of Brussels. She has been studying at the Koningin Elisabeth Musicapel located here for a year and a half, together with approximately seventy other young classical musicians, including the Dutch cellist Alexander Warenberg and pianist Nikola Meeuwsen.
The chapel is like a monastery with music as religion. If you want to go to the nearest supermarket, you have to walk half an hour. Hawijch Elders laughs at that: the remoteness is actually a plus, she thinks. Most Kapel students live elsewhere, the fourteen musicians who reside here consciously opted for silence and concentration.
The Music Chapel, founded in 1939, is one of the few places in Europe where you can continue to develop as a top classical talent (violin, alto, cello, piano, voice, string quartet) for up to four years after the conservatory. You will be taught by famous musicians who perform on the biggest stages and will be assigned to chamber music projects with them. All students here – most of them between 25 and 30 years old – are called ‘Artists in Residence’ and that is significant. They have been artists for a long time.
Violinist Hawijch Elders is the only Dutch person to participate this year in the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, a music competition that starts on May 6. The 69 participating violinists come from 24 countries – with a dominance of American (13) and Chinese (11) candidates. Eight study at the Brussels Music Chapel: also a disproportionate number. “I even believe it is a record, although here you are pretty much expected to participate,” she says. “But we don’t see each other as competitors. We have all participated in enough competitions to know: sometimes things go well, sometimes less so. There are so many factors involved. And if you really have your own story to tell, it will eventually be heard.”
Wild
Elders’ music story began when she was six. Her younger sister’s violin fascinated her immensely. Hawijch was “wild” and had a lot of imagination, liked to ride horses, swim, and read endless children’s books. “But that violin, practicing together so quietly in the morning, is what I wanted too. It took a while of nagging, but then it was allowed if I stopped riding.”
She started taking lessons at the Hellendaal Music Institute in Rotterdam with Mea Fontijn, a “fantastic teacher for young children”, enjoyed the concerts at the Delft Chamber Music Festival during the summer holidays in her home town of Delft and ended up at the young talent training of the Rotterdam Institute at the age of 12. Conservatory with teacher Benzion Shamir, deputy concertmaster of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
“Music was more than a hobby then,” she says. “But actually it was that way from the very beginning. I immediately knew: this is it.” Even the choice for the Erasmiaans Gymnasium was actually intended as a choice for music. There were also fellow students from the Hellendaal Music Institute at that school, so she hoped that music would be important there. “But that was not the case at all. And I sometimes found the combination of school and serious violin playing really difficult.”
School parties? Not an option if you want to study early again the next morning. Friends? Annoying. What 16-year-old understands why your choice of instrument requires such sacrifices? “But sometimes it was also fun to live in those two worlds in one day,” she says. “Then I would rush to the conservatory to study the violin in an hour and then quickly return to school. That lasted seven minutes. I learned to plan and deal with stress.”
In retrospect, she is glad that she did not focus solely on playing the violin at such a young age. “My brain was challenged at grammar school, we had to read a lot. That background now fuels my interest in the background of the music I play. What did it sound like when it was created, what was the relationship with poetry and literature? You should always be curious about what else there is to discover about a work, which will also make your performance more unique and better.”
I took a break from going to the conservatory to study the violin and then quickly returned to school
Russian violin school
The Netherlands is historically known as a fertile ‘violin country’. Janine Jansen, Rosanne Philippens and Noa Wildschut are taking the first steps with the help of Hilversum violin teacher Coosje Wijzenbeek (1948-2021). A generation before that, Davina van Wely (1922-2004) taught – in addition to Wijzenbeek – Jaap van Zweden, Isabelle van Keulen and Jan Willem de Vriend.
But Hawijch Elders grew up outside that sphere of influence. Her most important teachers were the Lithuanian-born Benzion Shamir and the Latvian Ilya Grubert, principal subject teacher at the Amsterdam Conservatory, with whom she ended up at the age of 18 through Shamir’s suggestion. Violinists with roots in the Russian violin school, that is.
“That definitely shaped me,” she says. “The music world is international, you can no longer speak of distinctive national schools. But my sound ideal is determined by old Russian examples. Ilya Grubert studied with Leonid Kogan [1924-1982], for me one of the greatest violinists ever. That deep, carrying sound, that compelling expressiveness. Their technique is so perfect that you no longer think about it.
Photo Roger Cremers
I don’t play like them, I have to find my own voice. Playing Mozart or Bach in such a romantic way in 2024 is now unthinkable, with all the insights gained into how that music sounded at the time of its creation. But for me, the old Russians are still unsurpassed in the large, virtuoso romantic repertoire. Every note has direction and its own color and feeling.”
She also learned from Grubert and Shamir that participating in competitions is “just part of it.” “I’m a bit ambivalent about it,” she says. “Competitions are always very intense. You can usually participate until you are thirty, but I hope to stop sooner. It causes a lot of stress and takes a lot of time. But every competition is also an investment in yourself. Sometimes you win a prize, sometimes you gain a valuable connection or a new friend. When I won second prize at the Odesa competition in 2021, I became friends with jury member Valery Sokolov, a great violinist. Through him I ended up at the Music Chapel. Competitions also take you on paths that you had not yet seen yourself.”
The ancient Russians are unsurpassed in the romantic repertoire. Each note has its own color
That path has a clear goal these days: the Elisabeth Competition. “I’m not counting how long I study right now,” she says. “Heifetz’s father locked his violin case after five o’clock and I understand why. There’s something unhealthy about it. But when you’re alone in your room all day, it’s tempting to keep going. Plus: studying also gives me self-confidence. I’m quite addicted. In Amsterdam, my fellow students sometimes thought I was too intense in my study drive, but fortunately here it is perfectly normal.”
She plays a wide repertoire at the competition. New work by British composer Charlotte Bray and Frenchman Thierry Escaich, virtuoso pieces by Eugène Ysaÿe and Niccolò Paganini, a Mozart concerto and a recital with piano. “That makes the logistics of the preparation a bit complicated. How long is the best time to study what, and when? But I like the versatility of the music itself. That’s exactly how broad I want to be as a violinist. Specializing in everything. Early music, chamber music and virtuoso solo concertos.”
In Amsterdam, fellow students sometimes thought I was too intense in my study drive, but fortunately here it is completely normal
For the time being, she will remain in the Music Chapel for a few more years, as there is plenty to learn there. “My teacher Augustin Dumay is completely different from what I am used to. Recently we studied Mozart. Wherever I wouldn’t do it, he added emphasis. When I later demonstrated that to Ilya Gubert, he said: yes, that is also possible. There are so many ways you can interpret music.”
Further dreams for the future? They are still a bit foggy, she admits. “But in any case, I want to decide autonomously what I will and will not do. Being lived by a career doesn’t appeal to me. I want to enjoy music and have time for a happy life outside of it. But I do live for my violin and I have put a lot of time into improving it. What I can do now doesn’t have to stay indoors.”
The Queen Elisabeth Competition starts on May 6 at the Flagey cultural center in Brussels. Semi-finals are the following week. The final week takes place in Bozar in Brussels, from May 27 to June 1. The competition can be followed via Klara and VRT Canvas.
CV
Hawijch Elsewhere (October 31, 1998) grew up in Delft. She started taking violin lessons with Mea Fontijn at the age of six and subsequently studied with Benzion Shamir (Codarts Rotterdam, 2010-2016) and Ilya Grubert at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where she obtained her Bachelor of Music in 2020 and her Master of Music in 2022. concluded with highest praise.
Since September 2022, she has been ‘artist in residence’ at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, where she studies with Augustin Dumay. She won, among others, the Henri Marteau International Violin Competition in 2023 and the Leonid Kogan International Competition for Young Violinists in 2021. During the Elisabeth Competition, she plays a Stradivarius violin that she has on temporary loan.
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