Laura van der Heijden is set to make her US concert debut this March at the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall. We were able to catch up with the young artist and learn more about her accomplishments, US debut, inspirations off-stage, and her advice for young artists.

Van der Heijden won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2012 when she was just a young teenager. She said winning the competition changed her career prospects hugely and she was thrilled, as she was initially aiming to just get through the first round. While preparing for the competition pushed her playing “in a way it hadn’t been pushed before,” she’s incredibly proud of the progress she was able to make through the process. 

With such a promising musical career ahead of her at such a young age, it’s no wonder her all-Russian debut album, ‘1948’, was acclaimed as “dazzling” and “imaginative.” The album, featuring pianist Petr Limonov, was released globally nearly six years after her 2012 BBC win. 

Van der Heijden says, “It took a long time for me to feel ready to record, and I’m really glad I waited.” Along with her successful album debut in 2018, Van der Heijden is also proud of her part in the chorus of an unconducted performance of Bach’s St. John Passion in her first year at Cambridge. She says being part of such a highly collaborative project was “extremely rewarding and challenging, both logistically and musically.”

So, what’s next for Laura van der Heijden? Her US debut at the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival is something the musician is most looking forward to this year. Van der Heijden expressed her excitement to be making her debut linked to Ralph Kirshbaum, as she’s been on several masterclasses with the esteemed American cellist and admires his musicianship. 

Furthermore, Van der Heijden shares with us her anticipation for three upcoming recordings, which will be a mixture of chamber repertoire and her first concerto disc. When it comes to what she would like people to take away from her artistry, Van der Heijden said it’s all about the feeling her work emotes. 

“I would love for people to feel a sense of warmth, love, positivity, and maybe something a bit different,” she said. As far as musical inspiration, Van der Heijden finds that inspiration can be a “sudden, fleeting thing.”

In order to find her own interpretation of a piece, she says that she approaches it from different angles; inventing a narrative, imagining colors, dance, or a film alongside the music. Van der Heijden also shares that she will listen to recordings of different pieces of the same composer in order to surround herself with their “sound-world”. 

Her inspiration and interpretations of pieces are always changing and she is convinced that there is a correlation between the way she performs and how she lives her life. 

“The more I build a sense of self-trust, the easier I find it to connect to the music and not to be distracted by nerves or anxieties,” she said. “As a young artist, find out what you really want out of your career and your life, and then you can try to make your decisions accordingly.” 

Reflecting on her strong support system and the crazy music industry where dedication to your music and your career clash, Van der Heijden emphasized the importance of staying true to yourself and your personal ambitions. Her own ambition? “To be the best musician I can possibly be, and to enjoy it as much as I can — to live my life with joy and light.”

Laura van der Heijden makes her US concert debut in March at the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall (from March 13 to 22nd). 

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