Amsterdam Sinfonietta has occupied a unique position as the only professional string orchestra in the Netherlands for the past 25 years. Founded in 1988, with Lev Markiz as its first artistic director, the ensemble has performed throughout the world, touring Europe, China, the United States and Australia. It has appeared at major venues sich as the Barbican Hall in London, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the National Centre of Performing Arts in Beijing and the Berlin Konzerthaus.
The ensemble comprises 22 string players who perform under the leadership of its concertmaster and artistic leader Candida Thompson. This approach to music- making without a conductor is what distinguishes the group from ‘regular’ chamber orchestras. It calls for an extremely intense degree of involvement from all the musicians. The repertoire covers a variety of styles, extending from the Baroque repertoire to contemporary works. Alongside performances of mainstream repertoire, the orchestra frequently champions unjustly neglected or new works. Amsterdam Sinfonietta has recently premièred compositions by David Matthews, Michel van der Aa, Kate Moore, Tigran Mansurian and Peteris Vasks. Leading composers such as Thomas Larcher, Rozalie Hirs and Sofia Gubaidulina are currently composing new works commissioned by Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
The ensemble has gained a reputation for creating highly innovative programmes; its trademark versatility recently earned it the prestigious classical music prize De Ovatie [The Ovation] in 2013. It frequently presents original and compelling combinations of works, initiates surprising collaborations and embraces groundbreaking concepts involving video art, dance or theatre. Amsterdam Sinfonietta has worked with a host of internationally renowned musicians, such as Sergei Khachatryan, Barbara Hannigan, Thomas Hampson, David Fray, Janine Jansen, Dejan Lazic, Steven Isselis, Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov, Nino Gvetadze, Christianne Stotijn, Bobby McFerrin and Wende Snijders.
Amsterdam Sinfonietta’s educational KleuterSinfonietta performances are enjoyed by thousands of young children in the Netherlands each year. It also organises the Sinfonietta Strijkersdagen [Sinfonietta String Players Days], giving young musicians the opportunity to participate in workshops and perform in public in specially formed string orchestras.
Within the past decade Amsterdam Sinfonietta has produced an impressive array of CDs under Candida Thompson’s leadership, in collaboration with the high-quality Channel Classics label. These include ‘The Mahler Album’ (2011), ‘Britten’ (2013) and ‘Shostakovich & Weinberg’ (2013). ‘The Argentinian Album’ was released in October 2014. Recently the orchestra has also recorded CDs for labels such as ECM, Sony Classical and Deutsche Grammophon.
During the last few seasons Amsterdam Sinfonietta has undertaken international tours with Sol Gabetta, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Martin Fröst. In early 2014 it joined forces with the American baritone Thomas Hampson, performing a unique song programme in twelve concert halls across Europe. Upcoming projects include a tour of Japan and concerts in the Benelux, Germany and Austria with the cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras.

Ed Spanjaard started his career as répétiteur at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and at the Bayreuther Wagner-Festspiele; his love for opera stems from this background.
Spanjaard has conducted many new productions including Così fan tutte (with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century), Der Ring des Nibelungen (Dutch Touring Opera), Pelléas et Mélisande (Lyon) and several chamber operas by Guo Wenjing (Holland Festival, Paris, Frankfurt).

His long and successful conductorship of the Nieuw Ensemble has resulted in numerous premieres and tours, including visits to international festivals in Edinburgh, Berlin, Venice and Shanghai. Intensive and fruitful collaborations with composers have led to many new works and to recordings (Carter, Harvey, Ferneyhough, Donatoni, Loevendie among others).

As a symphonic conductor, Spanjaard built a large orchestra repertoire in his years as Chief Conductor at the Limburgs Symphony Orchestra, with programmes dedicated to single composers (Messiaen, Ravel, Dvořák, Bartók), and also with special semi-staged performances such as Debussy’s Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastien in which – at Spanjaard’s request – a new text and choreography were provided by Ramsey Nasr and Toer van Schayk respectively. Besides this, he has been a regular guest conductor at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra since 2001, where he has been invited several times for French music (Debussy, Dukas, Roussel), but is also appreciated for his approach to symphonies such as Brahms’ Second and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth.

Spanjaard has successfully conducted, among others, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, Ensemble InterContemporain (Paris), Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt) and the Klangforum Wien. Spanjaard has conducted the The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra on several occasions, including a memorable production of Verdi’s Aida in Amsterdam, and for recordings in the renowned series ‘Four Hundred Years of Dutch Music.’

As a pianist, Spanjaard has specialized in song accompaniment. He performed regularly with Elly Ameling. More recently he performed in concert with Maarten Koningberger, with whom he recorded an album featuring Mahler’s songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn.

During the royal wedding of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima in 2002, Spanjaard provided the music as conductor and pianist.
Since September 2012, Ed Spanjaard has been Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
Ed Spanjaard is principal conductor of Orkest van het Oosten/Netherlands Symphony Orchestra from season 2017/18.

Masumi Nagasawa is one of the few harpists to perform on the modern Grand Harp, the single-action pedal harp (18th-19th century historical harp), the Irish harp and the kugo or Japanese ancient harp. She has been invited to International Festivals and also to various International Harp competitions as a jury member, these including the Concours de harpe Lily Laskine in Paris.

Masumi has given recitals in major concert halls in Amsterdam, Tokyo, Budapest, Rome, Prague, Washington D.C., Copenhagen and Brussels. Her recitals are highly varied, always changing with the development and expansion of her repertoire. She has been a soloist with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, St. John’s College Choir Cambridge and has also appeared as a soloist together with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Cecilia Bartoli. International festivals where she has been invited to perform include the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Festival, the Salzburg Music Festival, the Geneva Music Festival, the Akiyoshidai International Music Festival, the Ittinger Pfingstkonzerte, and the Torino Milano Festival Internazionale della Musica.

On historical harp she has performed with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Freiburger Baroque Orchestra, the Balthasar-Neuman Ensemble, the Kammerorchester Basel, the Orchestra La Scintilla and the Netherlands Bach Society.

Alongside her concert appearances she both composes and arranges music for the harp; this has also been published and recorded.

She currently teaches at the Conservatory in Maastricht.