"...Her sense for music is exceptional: very sensitive she projects a very convincing and sincere expression in everything she plays..."

Pierre Amoyal

Training
After her first lessons at the local music school in Hoorn, Birthe was taught the violin from the age of eight by Rudolf Zwartjes, with whom she studied for five years. At thirteen she was admitted to the Amsterdam Conservatoire, where she studied with Jan Repko and Lex Korff de Gidts. In addition, Birthe regularly took lessons with Herman Krebbers.

From 2004 she studied with Pierre Amoyal at the Lausanne Conservatoire (Switzerland), where she achieved the Diplôme de Soliste in May 2007 and her postgraddiplome in May 2009, both cum laude.

During her studies Birthe was supported by the Provision Fund for Outstanding Young Musicians. An international jury selected her as the Amsterdam Conservatoire’s only violinist for the Fund for Young Masters, which supplied special facilities during her years of training.

Prizes
In June 2005, Birthe was awarded First Prize during the Dutch National Violin Competition aged between 17 - 26 years, commonly known as the Oskar Back Competition.

Previously Birthe had won First Prizes in:

-       the Competition for Young Musical Talent (1996),
-       the Dutch National Davina van Wely Violin Competition for players aged between 13-17 (1999),
-       the national finals of the Princess Christina Competition (2001),
-       the international competition for national First Prize winners, organized by the EMCY. Together with the pianist Christopher Devine she was awarded the European Music Prize for duos, and they also received the Hindemith Prize for the best performance of the set piece, as well as the sculpture “The Dancing Angel” for the best duo (1999),

-       the Princess Christina Competition/north for piano trios; national finals: Third Prize (2001).

In 2007 she received the Prize of the town Salzburg during the Sommerakademie of tghe Mozarteum.

She was the only one of 174 violonists who got a prize and was asked to play a concert in the big hall of the Mozarteum.

Scholarships
In 2001 Birthe was awarded the Kersjes van de Groenekan Scholarship, enabling her to study abroad.
Furthermore, she received financial support during her studies from, among others, the FAPK, the Petronella Andriessen Fund and the Engbertha Loman Fund, under the umbrella of the Prince Bernhard Fund for Culture.

The scholarship won during the Oskar Back Competition enabled her to finish her studies in Switzerland.

Live appearances
Birthe has given many recitals, both in the Netherlands, in eleven other European countries and in Japan. She is appearing regulary in the Small Hall of the Concertgebouw.

She has performed as a soloist with various orchestras, such as the Residentie Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra,The Radio Chamber Philharmony, the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmony ,  l'Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Camerata de Lausanne, among others at the Big Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Concert Hall in Haarlem, the Oosterpoort in Groningen, the Dr. Anton Philips Hall in The Hague en the Muziekcentrum in Enschede.

She also played as a sloloist with orchestra in Belgium, Austria, France, Switserland, Rumania, Russia, Croatia.

Birthe loves playing chamber music and frequently gives recitals with Dutch pianists such as Mirsa Adami, Daniël Kramer and Folke Nauta, the Hungarian pianist Martin Tchiba and the Rumanian/French pianist Aimo Pagin. She also performs regularly in piano trios.

Violin and bow
Birthe plays a Stradivarius violin that formerly belonged to Paul Godwin  and a bow that formerly belonged to Herman Krebbers, placed at her disposal by resp. The National instrument Fund and the Instrument Fund Oskar Back      

       For other languages, please select the right flag on top of this page.