Amarins Wierdsma joined the Musicians' Company Young Artists' Programme after winning our Maisie Lewis Young Artists' Fund award in 2016 with the Barbican Quartet. Here she performs Bach's ‘Gavotte en Rondeau’ and the first movement of Ysaye’s second sonata for solo violin, ‘Obsession’. Amarins says: "Hi! My name is Amarins Wierdsma and I’m a Dutch/American violinist. Since 2013 I’ve been living in London. I lived in East London, South London and now I share a flat with my boyfriend in North London. My favourite thing about music is playing with other people. I enjoy leading orchestras, playing chamber music with my string quartet and other friends and playing concertos with orchestra. Currently I’m also pursuing an online degree in psychology from Kings College London because I wanted to use my brain in a different way…(literally a crazy idea…) During the lockdown I spent time learning to knit (didn’t stick) to bake (did stick!), reading TONS and growing plants (with varying levels of success). During the lockdown I spent a lot of time playing Bach for myself. I enjoyed having the time to play without really focusing on how I needed to better myself and without having a deadline from a performance. It felt strange at first to be left a little forlorn and aimless but when I picked myself up, I turned to the violin solo repertoire as I felt that it would be a great way to keep my technique up to scratch and also a nice way to play and have daily activities (there are many movements of Paganini, Ysaye and Bach...). I hope you enjoy my little donation and representation of this time in our crazy world." -------------------------------------------------- Musicians' Company Profile - http://www.wcom.org.uk/yeoman/barbican-quartet Musicians' Company Interview (2017) - http://www.wcom.org.uk/news/yeoman-interview-amarins-wierdsma About our Maisie Lewis Young Artists' Fund - http://www.wcom.org.uk/awards/maisie-lewis-young-artists-fund-and-concordia-foundation-artists-fund Amarin's Website - http://www.amarinsmwierdsma.com Amarin's Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/amarinswierdsma Amarin's Twitter - http://twitter.com/amarinswierdsma Amarin's Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/amarinswierdsmaviolinist -------------------------------------------------- Join our weekly #MiddayMusic e-news at http://eepurl.com/dv0ccr #MiddayMusic is supported by funds from the Musicians' Company’s Prince’s Prize which received a generous endowment in 2015 from The Eranda Rothschild Foundation and Rothschilds Bank, in memory of Leopold de Rothschild, a Liveryman of the Musicians’ Company for over 50 years. Donate to support The Musicians' Company Young Artists - http://www.justgiving.com/musicianscompanyfund