Femke Huizinga

From an early age, I heard Bach’s cantatas ringing out through our home: a necessity of life for my father. And the countless melodies made up by my mother were valuable musical building blocks as well.

I started playing violin myself at the age of seven and the hobby intensified when I discovered chamber music. But was it a vocation? No. At university, I studied philosophy. Being continually surprised by new outlooks on reality was something that really interested me.

Wordless communication
At least, that is, until a summer course fanned the musical flames. In playing together, I experienced music as the purest form of human connection. Spontaneous, wordless communication, and a shared world of emotions in sound. After a sleepless night, it became clear to me: I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. I finished off my Master’s degree in philosophy and went on to study at the conservatoire. My preference for gut strings and historical performance practice soon came to the fore and was given free rein. Alongside violin, I also started playing viola, which broadened my range of timbres and gave me another role in the ensemble. Since then, I’ve been performing with ensembles like the Netherlands Bach Society and Anima Eterna Brugge, and giving lots of chamber music concerts, besides teaching a few pupils.

Turn-over time
Alongside making music, motherhood lends a wonderful and sometimes challenging dimension to my life. I think the present ‘turn-over time’ is very interesting – how are we going to leave the fossil fuel era behind us? How are we going to relate to one another and to the planet? For instance, I live in an eco-neighbourhood and I’ve set up a clothes swap chain in my town. Because philosophy has taught me that people create their world in words, sounds, colours and deeds.

Favourite All of Bach recording
One of my favourite All of Bach recordings is BWV 54 Widerstehe doch der Sünde: wonderful harmonies right from the first note, enormous raw energy, and two viola parts.