Elgar Anniversary: Perchance To Dream

Her engaging personality and extraordinary musical vitality have made Isabelle van Keulen one of the most sought after and charismatic musicians of her generation. Come February 15, the Holland-born violinist will be in Singapore to perform Elgar's Violin Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in a concert commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of the English composer.

Isabelle van Keulen began playing the violin at the age of six, and studied first at the Sweelinck Conservatoire in Amsterdam and then with Sandor Vegh at the Salzburg Mozarteum. She now lives in England with her husband, British clarinettist Michael Collins, and their two children.

In 1997, she founded her own chamber music festival in Delft, Holland where she collaborates with such distinguished friends and colleagues as Leif Ove Andsnes, Michael Collins, Håkan Hardenberger, Gidon Kremer, Heinrich Schiff and Thomas Adès. She has an extensive discography: works of Haydn, Mozart, Vieuxtemps, Saint-Saens and the complete Stravinsky duo repertoire with Olli Mustonen for Philips Classics, Lutoslawski Chain 2, Schnittke Viola Concerto, Dutilleux "L'arbre des songes", the complete works of Bruch for violin, viola and orchestra and several duo recital recordings with Ronald Brautigam for Koch-Schwann, and the Mendelssohn concertos for BIS Records.

Also listen out for Bright Sheng's China Dreams: a work inspired by a dream, as its title suggests, and the well-loved Strauss' Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, which is now as well-loved as the opera itself. -- www.sso.org.sg