HARRIET KRIJGH, Cello
“Krijgh’s soul-stirring, fiery temperament, the passionate impulse of her playing, and the wealth of nuances in her palette of colors and expression were simply blissful,” wrote Die Rheinpfalz of the Dutch cellist Harriet Krijgh. Today, she is recognized as one of the most exciting and expressive artists of her generation, captivating audiences and critics alike with her cantabile playing and intense stage presence.
A highly sought-after artist worldwide, Harriet Krijgh is equally at home as a soloist with major orchestras and as a devoted chamber musician. Her international concert tours regularly take her to the most prestigious venues in Europe, North America, and Asia. She has performed with renowned ensembles such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Further engagements have paired her with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She is also a frequent guest at prestigious festivals, including the Heidelberger Frühling, the Grafenegg Festival, and the Schubertiade Hohenems. In 2019, as “Prize Winner in Residence”, she performed in approximately 25 concerts during the summer season of the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Her deep love for chamber music led her to join the renowned Artemis Quartet in early 2019, of which she was a member until 2021, performing on the world’s most important stages. Previously, in 2017 and 2018, she succeeded Janine Jansen as the Artistic Director of the Utrecht International Chamber Music Festival. A project particularly close to her heart is her own festival, “harriet&friends,” held at Burg Feistritz in Lower Austria, which will celebrate its 15th anniversary in the summer of 2026.
Her discography is as versatile as it is extensive. Following a longstanding and intensive collaboration with the Capriccio label—for which she recorded numerous CDs, including the cello concertos of Kabalevsky, Haydn, Brahms, and Miklós Rózsa—she was an exclusive artist for Deutsche Grammophon (recording “Silent Dreams” and works by Vivaldi). Currently, Harriet Krijgh has resumed her successful recording activities with Capriccio. This collaboration saw the 2024 release of her recording of the Elgar and Dvořák Cello Concertos with the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria under the baton of Martin Sieghart.
In addition to her performance career, Harriet Krijgh is passionately dedicated to teaching. From 2023 to 2025, she taught at the University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover as part of the innovative “Maestri Master Cello” team-teaching program. Furthermore, she regularly gives international masterclasses to pass her knowledge on to the next generation of musicians.
Harriet Krijgh is a laureate of numerous international competitions; notably, she won both the First Prize and the Audience Award at the Amsterdam Cello Biennale. In the 2015/2016 season, she was also named a “Rising Star” (ECHO).
She plays a cello built by Domenico Montagnana (1723) in Venice with a Stradivarius scroll, which is generously on loan to her from the Angelika Prokopp Private Foundation.