Diamanda La Berge Dramm is one of the leading contemporary classical music performers of her generation. In her own practice as a violininst, singer, and composer, she continuously aims to examine the dyad of voice and violin.
In 2018, Diamanda became the first string soloist to win the Dutch Classical Talent Award. Other major recognitions include the John Cage Award (2015), the Deutschlandfunk Förderungspreis (2019), and the Willem Breukerprijs (2022). In 2020, NRC Handelsblad named her one of the 101 Talents for the Next Decade.
Together with Garth Knox, she released a new set of concert etudes focusing on extended techniques, Violin Spaces, which she teaches internationally. As part of her residency at the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven (2018-2020), Diamanda created a project around Charles Ives’ Violin Sonata, No. 5, which included a CD release and a corresponding website. In 2021, she released Inside Out on GENUIN Classics, with works by J.S. Bach and John Cage. Her longtime collaboration with UK poet SJ Fowler resulted in the EP Beastings (2019), and the album Chimp (2022). She regularly works with fashion house Maison the Faux. In 2022, Diamanda played the role of Einstein in Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass, in a new production by Susanne Kennedy and Markus Selg. She is Artist in Residence with Crash Ensemble (IR) in 2022 and 2023.
As a Splendor Founder she plays and hosts concerts regularly. Splendor is a collective of 50 musicians, composers, and stage artists who transformed an old bathhouse in the heart of Amsterdam into a local cultural paradise.
www.splendoramsterdam.com
Diamanda plays with an Andreas Grütter bow (2015) on an Andranik Gaybaryan violin (2014), purchased with the generous support of the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and the Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrumentenfonds. Other structural support has come from the Kersjes Fonds, Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten, and the Loyola Stichting.
“.. Dramm shows us why she is one of the most exciting performers around.”
NRC Handelsblad
“Dutch violinist Diamanda La Berge Dramm has been continuously expanding her repertoire and technique over the course of her young, but long career. Her latest release – and first album with her own original material – Chimp is so surprisingly fresh, it feels like a relief to know it is out there. At the same time, in the context of Dramm’s work, it is no surprise at all. It just makes sense. Classically trained, Dramm is as comfortable playing Henry Purcell or John Cage. In recent years, she added her own compositions to her repertoire and keeps exploring her instrument’s potential, its sounds and, more broadly, sound itself. Along the way she has found, literally, her voice ..”
The Quietus
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