Borika van den Booren

Clinician

Borika van den Booren is first violinist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra since 1998. She had her first violin lessons at the age of six with the Hungarian violin teacher László Révész. Aged eleven, she was accepted as a student of Davina van Wely’s at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 1983. She went on to study with Ilya Grubert at the Rotterdam Conservatory in 1990 and participated in masterclasses with – among others – Zinaida Gilels and Pavel Vernikov. She won several prestigious prizes. In 1991, Pierre Audi conferred on her the ‘Belofte’ (‘Promise’) Culture Prize.

At an early age, van den Booren gave solo performances with the Berliner Symphoniker, Brabant Orchestra, North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Budapest, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, and the Kiev Chamber Orchestra under such conductors as Reinbert de Leeuw, Iván Fischer, Eduardo Marturet, Alun Francis and Árpád Joo.

Borika van den Booren has served as principal violinist of the Aquarius Ensemble and has performed many works by her father, composer Jo van den Booren. Her CD recordings include performances of the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Berliner Symphoniker and concertos by Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Dvořák. She has given numerous recitals and chamber music concerts in Europe, Asia, and South America.

Borika van den Booren plays a violin built by Nicolas Lupot (ca. 1780), which was donated by a private benefactor to Concertgebouworkest Foundation.