Michelle Kumara

violin

As a three-year-old, Michelle already made it clear that she wanted to play the violin. A year later the first introduction to the violin was a fact during trial lessons at the CKC in Zoetermeer. Not long after, she began violin lessons with Serdar Erkmenis of violin school Leidschenveen in The Hague. At age nine she was admitted as an external student to the School for Young Talent of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Since then she has been receiving violin lessons from Mireille van der Wart. Michelle also plays in the Atheneum Chamber Orchestra of the Royal Conservatory conducted by Leonard Kwon.

Michelle regularly competes in competitions and has won several awards. In 2020, she placed second in the Britten Competition and won the Bartholomew Prize in the Iordens A category of the Dutch Violin Competition. In 2021 and 2022, she placed (shared) first in the regional finals of the Princess Christina Concours. In 2021 she also won an audience prize at the national final of the Princess Christina Competition. During the 2022 edition of the Dutch Violin Competition, she won the first prize in the Iordens B category as well as the prize for the best performance of the compulsory work composed especially for the competition by Morris Kliphuis.

In 2021, Michelle could be seen on television at the Children's Prince Canal Concert where she accompanied Romy Monteiro and later that year on the program Christmas with the Sand Wizard. Michelle was recently featured as a Young Hero on the program Stage Classical.

Michelle is now in the third year of grammar school. In her free time, Michelle plays violin with the Symphony Orchestra of Viotta Youth Orchestras conducted by René Gulikers, enjoys watching movies or series or reading books.

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