Biography

With roots from around the globe, the Lazarus String Quartet’s diversity puts them at the forefront of exciting young musicians emerging on the European classical music scene. Founded in 2007 by graduates of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, the group has evolved through great success on the international stage, and now consists of members from New Zealand, Sweden, and USA/Japan. After graduating with a Masters in Chamber Music under Prof. Oliver Wille in Hanover, Germany, the quartet is now based in the Germany capital city of Berlin. Lazarus has been praised for its virtuosic ease and unified sound with a devotion to performance, having audiences leave feeling inspired and animated.

Mentors such as Prof. Eberhard Feltz and Prof. Oliver Wille have been crucial in the quartet’s development, as has the continual support of the Pettman Foundation which allows them to tour regularly in New Zealand. The quartet is a former prize-winner of the Royal Overseas League Arts/Pettman Scholarship, which has enabled the exposure of international opportunities since 2010.

 Mayumi Kanagawa (1994) is a Japanese-American violinist currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik “hanns eisler” Berlin with Kolja Blacher. She is recipient of the fourth prize at the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, second prize and best concerto prize at the 2018 Long-Thibaud Crespin competition in Paris, she is also the first prize winner of the 2016 Princess Astrid Competition in Trondheim, 2013 Jascha Heifetz Competition in Vilnius, and the 2011 Irving M. Klein Competition in San Francisco. Mayumi has soloed with many orchestras including the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian National Symphony, among others. Upcoming concerts include her debut with the Belgian National Symphony and Hugh Wolff, as well as a return to the Lithuanian National Orchestra.

Mayumi has a unique talent for communicating her love and joy of music making, in varied repertoire and venues. She is described as an open and virtuosic musician with a rare effortlessness in her playing, where the audience leaves the concert hall energized and inspired.

Chamber music and outreach programs have brought Mayumi to the Trans-Siberian festival, Verbier festival, Chanel Pygmalion chamber music series in Japan, and TONALi tours throughout Germany.

Mayumi’s former teachers include Yoshiko Nakura, Masao Kawasaki in the Juilliard Pre-College division, and Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School.

Mayumi performs on a Petrus Guarnerius (Mantua, late 17th century) violin, on generous loan from the Deutsche Musikinstrumentenfond of the Deutsch Stiftung Musikleben.

Jos Jonker (1992) recently finished her Master’s degree in Violin under Professor Sebastian Hamann at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, Germany. In 2014 she obtained her Bachelor’s degree from the Conservatory of Amsterdam under Ilya Grubert and prior to that, she studied from age eleven with Thijs Kramer at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. Until 2017 she was a member of the Acanthus Quartet who were part of the Dutch String Quartet Academy in Amsterdam studying under Marc Danel and Stefan Metz.

From a young age, Jos has enjoyed and had great success playing in orchestras. She was concert master of two of the top youth orchestras in the Netherlands: the Netherlands Youth Orchestra and the Netherlands Student Orchestra. In 2016, Jos was accepted into the prestigious Ferenc Fricsay Orchestra Academy of the “Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin”. Last concert season she was acting as second concert master in the “Philharmonisches Orchester Landestheater Coburg” in Germany. She is a current member of the Orchestra Academy of the Staatskapelle Berlin, conceived by Daniel Barenboim.

Jos plays a Spirito Sorsana violin, loaned to her by the Netherlands “National Musical Instruments Foundation”. She also uses a Sartory bow, that she was able to buy with the generous support of the “Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrument” and “Ars Doniandi”.

Albin Uusijärvi (1995) began his Bachelor Program at the Hochschule für Musik ”Hanns Eisler” in Berlin under Professor Walter Küssner in 2014. While there, he took master classes and lessons with Tatjana Masurenko, Alexander Zemtsov, Tabea Zimmerman, Jean Sulem and Lars-Anders Tomter. He eventually entered the viola class of Tabea Zimmerman, where he now continues with his Bachelor studies.

In 2014 Albin won the Polstjärnepriset (Polar Star Prize) in Sweden, which gave him a ticket to the international competition “Eurovision Young Musicians”, which was broadcast live from Cologne, Germany in all European countries.

Albin has toured the USA and India with the Swedish National Youth Orchestra and played in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Strathmore Center and Chicago Symphony Hall. He has also performed with the Orchester-Akademie of the Berliner Philharmonie and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Albin has been awarded several scholarships including the Ingrid och Per Welins Ungdomsstipendium and the Hans Dalborgs Musikstipendium he has the privilege to play on a viola that was especially built for him in 2012 with the support of the Instrument Foundation Per Welin.

Born in Dunedin, New Zealand, Alice Gott (1990) began the cello at age five. She was accepted into the class of Euan Murdoch as part of the “Young Musicians Programme” at the New Zealand School of Music and went on to complete her undergraduate studies at the age of nineteen from the University of Canterbury under Edith Salzmann. Thereafter, she moved to Germany where she studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold under Xenia Jankovic, and was very quickly immersed into a new world of incredible musical possibilites.

As chamber musician and founder of the Lazarus String Quartet, Alice is regularly on tour around the globe, with recent performances in Europe, Asia, South America and Australasia. She graduated from the Quartet Masters Programme in Hanover, Germany under Professor Oliver Wille in 2017 and received the first prize of the Royal Overseas League Competition in 2010 as cellist of the Lazarus String Quartet.

Alice is enjoys her involvement in the wider chamber music scene, playing regularly with other chamber ensembles and orchestras. These include “Capella Andrea Barca” under Sir András Schiff, “Amsterdam Sinfonietta”, the “New West Piano Trio” (Amsterdam) and “Kammerakademie Potsdam” (Berlin).

Alice plays on a Bohemian instrument from the 19th Century whose maker is currently unknown.

© Lazarus String Quartet 2017