Susanne van

Background

About Susanne van

Susanne van Els (1963) is one of the leading Dutch musicians of her generation. The city where she grew up rewarded her the Alcuinus Prize. With String Trio Holland, she won prizes amongst others in the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition 1991. Susanne was a co-founder of the Ives Ensemble and Sinfonietta Amsterdam. For 20 years, she was the violist of the world-famous Schönberg Ensemble, with which she toured the world, also as a soloist. Composers such as Louis Andriessen and Willem Jeths dedicated their works to her. Susanne created a remarkable series of solo CDs. She performed the Dutch premiere of Ligeti’s solo viola sonata and recorded it for harmonia mundi: this CD was awarded the Deutscher Schalplattenpreis and the Diapason d'Or de l'année. She designed a performing arts track for University College Utrecht, including theatre, music and dance. She was active as a board member, a.o. at the Dutch Foundation for Composers, and the Foundation for Performing Arts. She was a member of the selection committee for honorary members of the National Culture and Arts Council. Susanne has served on the local municipal council. In this place of residence, a cultural prize for citizens was named after her. Her last concert, playing her old-Italian Carlo Antonio Testore viola from 1745, was in 2010. From 2009 on, Susanne works in Higher Music Education, as the Head of Classical Music at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague, and as the General Director of Opera at the Arts Faculty in Maastricht. In these roles, she established, in collaboration with the professional practice, a variety of master specialisations and a research centre, she led a European network and European projects, and she started collaborations with music education partners in China. Within her own institutions, she was a driver for creating a positive and inclusive learning community. She is a reviewer in international accreditations, for MusiQuE and for EQ Arts. She was a member of the Learning & Teaching working group in the project Strengthening Music in Society. She performed collaborative innovative work on assessment and curriculum development, like ‘How (not) to teach’, ‘Diversity in Classical Music’ and ‘Embodying the score’. In 2021 she delivered a fundamental advice for a new approach and revised structure of the Young Talent programme (music, dance, fine arts) of the University of the Arts The Hague. Susanne holds an academic postgraduate in Social and Public Profit Management at the Antwerp Management School.