Kira van der Woerd, violinist: curriculum vitae
2025 Kersjes Violin Grant laureate
“Kira stands out for her exceptional musicality. Never satisfied with just a fine performance, she will always reach for the deeper meaning beyond the notes. Her curiosity and desire to explore are evident from her sparkling play. When it comes to choosing teachers, repertoire, or playing styles, Kira persistently strives for depth and enrichment. HKF whole-heartedly support her in this inspiring growth.” Het Kersjes Fonds
Kira van der Woerd (Netherlands, *2005) studies with Pavel Berman to obtain a bachelor’s degree in music at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana in Lugano, Switzerland, where she started in September 2023. She followed lessons with this maestro at the Accademia Perosi in Biella, Italy already in 2022, while concurrently reading musicology at the University of Amsterdam. For almost fourteen years, she studied with Julia Dinerstein in The Hague, after her first Suzuki violin lessons at age three and half.
Additional training and masterclasses
Having finished the Young Talent Program of the Rotterdam Hellendaal Music Institute, Kira participated in the Classic Young Masters 2021-2024 pre-professional coaching programme as one of its three final full scholarship winners. From 2011 onwards, she has taken masterclasses in such countries as France, Slovakia, Croatia, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, the USA, Estonia, and Austria with Vadim Gluzman, Grigory Kalinovsky, Mihaela Martin (once in 2025, twice in 2022), Michael Kugel, Daniel Rowland, Itamar Zorman, Eva Bindere, Krysztof Wegrzyn, Boris Garlitsky, Dora Schwarzberg, Benedetto Lupo, and others.
Granted a full Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra Fellowship, she participated in the Aspen Music Festival and School and studied with Robert Lipsett and others, in Aspen (Colorado), USA, in July and August, 2025.
Palmares
Kira is the 2025 laureate of the Kersjes Violin Grant, which is yearly assigned to one hand-picked Dutch violinist with international aspirations.
A multiple laureate at the Netherlands Violin Competition, she won 2nd prize in the 2024 Oskar Back and 1st prize in the 2018 Iordens A categories, as well as the prizes for best interpreter of the obligatory contemporary piece in the 2024 Oskar Back, the 2020 Iordens B, and the 2018 Iordens A categories.
She won the special prize for the best interpretation of contemporary music at Lithuania’s XI International Balys Dvarionas Competition for Young Pianists and Violinists in 2021; 2nd prize in the West-1 Regional Finals of the Dutch 2020 Prinses Christina Competition; 1st prize at the Dutch 2019 Archipel Music Competition; as well as various other awards.
During the 2018 Campus delle Arti in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, she was awarded a recital at the 2019 Festa della Musica Attiva a Villa Contarini in Piazzola sul Brenta.
Performances
Kira has played chamber music at laureate and other concerts at Janine Jansen’s Utrecht International Chamber Music Festival, IKFU (2025); during the Kersjes Award Ceremony in Amsterdam (2025); at the Classical NOW! World of Ravel Festival in The Hague (2025); in the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo (Belgium) in 2024; during the Aurora Festival in Groningen, the International Holland Music Sessions, the Amsterdam Muze van Zuid festival and Grachtenfestival, Classical Encounters in Duivenvoorde Castle, and Winteravonden aan de Amstel in Hermitage Amsterdam (the Netherlands); during the 2022 Bowdoin International Music Festival in Brunswick, Maine (USA); and participating in the 2020 and 2021 editions of Musica Mundi Course and Festival in Waterloo (Belgium).
She has performed with Daniel Rowland, Sander Sittig, Aleksandr Khramouchin, Dana Zemtsov, Kalle de Bie, Maja Bogdanović, Francesco Bossaglia, Timora Rosler, and Mikhail Zemtsov, and worked with Jacques Rouvier, Alexandra Soumm, Meg Freivogel, and Soyeon Kate Lee, among others.
Since the end of 2020 Kira has formed a duo with pianist Philip Karmanov to immediate success, winning 1st prize in their Regional Finals and 3rd prize in the National Finals of the 2021 Prinses Christina Competition, and awarded a recital in the Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland in October 2021.
Her solo performances include Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole with the Residentie Orkest under the baton of Jonathan Bloxham at the 2024 Oskar Back finals; Vivaldi’s Spring and Summer from the Four Seasons with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in 2024; Massenet’s Meditation from Thais with Phion Orchestra in 2024; Haydn’s G-major Violin Concerto with Domestica Rotterdam in 2021; music by Vieuxtemps, Vivaldi and Beethoven with Hellendaal’s Young Talent Orchestra, conducted by Mikhail Zemtsov; and Bruch’s 1st Violin Concerto with the Rijnstreek Youth Symphony Orchestra touring Southern France in 2019.
She played Tchaikovsky’s Melodie from Souvenir d’un lieu cher with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra at the 2021 Klassiek op het Amstelveld (KOHA), and was asked to become ambassador of this festival in that year.
Financial support
Kira is grateful for the financial and other support she has received from the NL Talenten Fonds, the Dutch Prins Bernhard Fonds (now Cultuurfonds), the VandenEnde Foundation, and Het Kersjes Fonds.