About
Besides being CEO & Artistic Director of the Residentie Orkest The Hague, Sven holds a professorship for viola and chamber music at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He is a highly sought-after musician, his chamber music partners have included Arno Bornkamp, Ivo Janssen, Paolo Giacometti, Dmitri Ferschtmann, Nobuko Imai, Christoph Poppen, Alexander Baillie, Pauline Oostenrijk, Frans van Ruth, Christianne Stotijn, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Christoph Richter, Antje Weithaas and the Brodsky, Auryn and Emerson Quartets. Sven has performed at major venues and festivals throughout the world, such as the Wigmore Hall in London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vienna Musikverein,Tivoli in Copenhagen, the Berlin Philharmonic, Sydney Town Hall, the Potsdam Musikfestspiele, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Yellow Barn Music Festival and Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, as well as Stamford International Music Festival and the Orlando Festival.
He has served on the faculties of the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, where he has also worked as conductor. Internationally in demand as a coach and mentor Sven is giving masterclasses throughout Europe, Asia and North and South America.
He toured and recorded extensively as solo violist of the Deutsche Kammerakademie between 1994 and 2000 and has worked as guest principal with the Schönberg Ensemble in Amsterdam and several American, Dutch and German orchestras.
Sven was a member of the Utrecht String Quartet for nine years and solo viola of Amsterdam Sinfonietta for seven years, recording numerous award-winning CDs with both ensembles.
Sven has studied with Nobuko Imai and Christoph Poppen in Detmold, the Amadeus Quartet in Cologne and Lawrence Dutton and the Emerson String Quartet in Hartford and New York.
Between 1998 and 2013 Sven has been artistic director of the Internationale Kammermusik in Haan, Germany. He has also acted as external consultant of the Britten-Pears Programme in Aldeburgh, UK, for five years.
His main instrument is a viola made by the master violin makers Andrew Finnigan & Pia Klaembt.
