More about Diederik
My violin was built by one Leandro Bisiach in 1898. It is a beautiful Italian violin with a bright, neutral tone, which I have been playing on for many years and really feel that it is an extension of my own person. I can really play anything on it.
2021
M.M. Codarts School of the Arts, Rotterdam (with Gordan Nikolic) and B.M. Indiana University Jacob's School of Music, Bloomington, IN, United States (with Mark Kaplan).
I do not have one favorite composer (there is so much wonderful music, especially for violin) but do have a lifelong fascination with Mozart and Bach in particular, both for their lives and zeitgeist and their compact, fraught writing. I can spend endless hours as a violinist playing one insidiously simple phrase, and Mozart and Bach are bursting with that.
What do I like to listen to?
In addition to the orchestra, I am affiliated with the "Bach Clinic" as a specialist. Guests fill in on an intake form how they are feeling at that moment, and we choose a piece that matches their feelings or needs. For inspiration, I always enjoy listening to the beautiful, free interpretations of Isabelle Faust.
One of the first CDs I received and was fascinated with for years was this recording of Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony. A world of sound opened up to me!
One of my favorite recordings of my favorite violin concerto: Henryk Szeryng plays Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto here with such passion and masterful subtlety. The orchestra accompanies quite tightly and occasionally bombastically, but that has an impressive impact with this piece.
Besides classical, I also enjoy playing other genres. I made this recording in 2016 with American songwriter Ben Bedford and virtuoso bluegrass bassist Ethan Jodziewicz.
Read an interview with Diederik van Wassenaer here.