Michiel Wittink (viola, 1995) is based in Amsterdam. He finished his bachelor and master degree in Clinical Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and his Bachelor degree in music at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Francien Schatborn. After that he completed his master’s degree at the Guildhall School for Music & Drama with Rachel Roberts.

 

He played on several festivals including Harmos Festival Porto, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Aurora Festival Sweden, Encuentro de Santander in Spain, Young Euro Classics Berlin, MISA festival Shanghai, Orlando Festival and the European Chamber Music Academy.

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Michiel is also founder and current member of the Felix Quartet. Previously he took part as violist in 'de Formule': a chamber group that explores innovative ways of performing using different cross art collaborations. In 2018 the ensemble won the 1st and performance prize at the Grand Chamber Music Competition in Rotterdam. They have been invited for concerts in the Netherlands, France, the UK, Portugal, Iceland and Norway. Furthermore, other highlights in chamber music include performances with violinist Philippe Graffin, flautist Francisco Lopez, and cellists Claudio Bohorquez and Steven Isserlis.

 

Moreover he played in several orchestras including the Aurora Orchestra, Orchestra Mozart, Nederlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, Ballet Orkest, the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw and worked as principal in the European Union Youth Orchestra. He also held (guest) principal positions in the Chamber Orchestra of Berlin, Bath Festival Orchestra, Amsterdam’s Modern Orchestra, the Dutch Student Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands. For 2021, Michiel got selected to take part in the Spira Mirabilis Mentoring Programme. He worked with maestros Gianandrea Noseda, Pablo Heras-Casado, Lorenzo Viotti, Hartmut Haenchen, Vasily Petrenko, Manfred Honeck, Marin Alsop, Thomas Søndergård, Xian Zhang, Ezio Bosso amongst others.

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He also took part in masterclasses with violists amongst Nobuko Imai, Miguel da Silva, Hartmut Rohde, Sophia Reuter, Daniel Bard, Saeko Oguma, Isabelle van Keulen, Sven Arne Tepl, Asdis Valdimarsdottir, Jurgen Kussmaul, Daniel Palmizio and Wenting Kang.

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Other highlights include performances in Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Wigmore Hall (London), Royal Opera House Muscat, Barbican Hall (London), Casa da Musica (Porto), Konzerthaus (Berlin), Villa Medici (Rome), Wolkenturm (Grafenegg), Shanghai Symphony Hall, Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), De Doelen (Rotterdam), Royal Albert Hall (London), The Sage (Newcastle) and Milton Court (London).

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Michiel is generously supported by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrumenten Fonds, the Guildhall School Iris Galley Award, Hendrik Muller Fonds and the Mengelberg Fonds. He's currently playing on a viola built by Theo Marks. His bow was built by Francois Lotte and has been given on loan by the Dutch Music Instruments Foundation.