Biography
With fresh eyes, the ADAM Quartet is looking for ways to shine its own light on the string quartet while staying true to the essence of the genre.
In recent years, the quartet has performed at major Dutch venues and festivals, including Het Concertgebouw, Tivoli Vredenburg, String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, Birds of Paradise Festival, Stift Festival, Klassifest, Down the Rabbit Hole, Schiermonnikoog Festival and the Storioni Festival. Next season, the ADAM Quartet will perform in the United States, Ireland, England, Poland and the Netherlands.
Besides playing the traditional string quartet repertoire, the quartet enjoys collaborating with contemporary composers and in this way premieres many new works. Among others, Kika Sprangers, Camiel Jansen and Vinthya Perinpanathan composed music for the quartet. The ADAM Quartet's contemporary perspective also allows for collaborations with other musical styles and disciplines. For instance, they collaborated with Icelandic pop singer Laufey and dance collective ISH.
The ADAM Quartet received master classes from members of Quatuor Danel, Quatuor Ébène, Ysaÿe Quartet and Quartetto di Cremona, among others. In 2021, the quartet received the String Quartet Stipendium from the Kersjes Fund and in 2024 the quartet received third prize at the Triomphe de l'Art competition in Brussels. The quartet is also part of the Netherlands String Quartet Academy (NSKA), where they have been taking postgraduate courses since 2022. In 2023, the quartet was selected to be part of the Music Cultural Heritage Talent Platform (MERITA), and in 2024 they are Quartet in Residence During the Zeister Music Days.
Ensemble
Margot Kolodziej
Margot Kolodziej (born 1993) is a versatile musician. Besides her role as primarius in the ADAM Quartet, she is active as a soloist, chamber musician and is a regular guest of renowned Dutch orchestras.
Margot started playing the violin at the age of seven. In 2011, she was admitted to the School for Young Talent, part of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where she took lessons with Koosje van Haeringen. In 2012, Margot started the Bachelor programme at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. There she studied with Kees Koelmans. After obtaining her Bachelor's degree in 2016, she was admitted to the Master's where she studied with Ilya Grubert.
Margot gave several solo performances with, among others, the Groene Hart Orchestra, Symfonieorkest Rijnstreek and with members of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. She was concertmaster of the Nationaal Jeugdorkest, deputy leader second violins of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and academist with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. Besides her performances with the ADAM quartet, she is part of rebel collective Pynarello, chamber music ensemble Project 5 and is active as a remplaçant with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
With these, as well as other ensembles, she performed several times at The Concertgebouw, Musikverein, the Elbphilharmonie and on radio and TV.
Margot has been invited to master classes and festivals, including the BMI Performance Artist Masterclasses in Berlin, the International Masterclasses Apeldoorn, Branimir Slokar Academy, Schiermonnikoogfestival, Grachtenfestival, Storioni Festival and the Stift Festival.
Margot plays on a violin built by Gudrun Kremeier and a bow by Victor François Fétique . The violin and bow were offered to her by the National Musical Instruments Fund.
Julia Kleinsmann
Julia Kleinsmann (1995) is a versatile violinist with a great passion for chamber music. At the Amsterdam Conservatory, she studied with Kees Koelmans and Peter Brunt and also took lessons in baroque violin and improvisation. She then studied violin and chamber music with Lukas Hagen and Rainer Schmidt at Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Today, Julia is part of the ADAM Quartet, with which she will perform in the Netherlands, Ireland, England, Poland and the US next season. Besides her experiences as a chamber musician in various line-ups, she gained orchestral experience as a leader with the National Youth Orchestra. Nowadays, Julia substitutes with orchestras such as LUDWIG, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Furthermore, Julia is part of the rebel collective Pynarello.
Julia was invited to many festivals, including the Gustav Mahler Academy in Bolzano and Jeunesse Musicales ICMC, where she also won the chamber music prize.
Thanks to a grant from Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrument, Julia plays on an 1810 violin by Johannes Bernardus Cuypers. Her bow, built by Télesphore Amable Barbé, is made available to her by the National Musical Instruments Fund.
Minna Svedberg
Swedish viola player Minna Svedberg (1993) grew up in a musical family in Stockholm and has built an extensive professional network across Europe, but is now based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
She studied with Lars Anders Tomter at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin and at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Nobuko Imai and Marjolein Dispa. She played in the European Union Youth Orchestra from 2010 to 2014, an experience that greatly influenced both her musical and professional life.
Minna strongly believes in the community-building power of music and has worked as a teacher with the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra, El Sistema Stockholm and MusikSak Aarhus.
She maintains an active freelance career and performs regularly with orchestras such as the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Pynarello and Philharmonia Orchestra.
Minna joined ADAM in spring 2023 and she is also a board member and performer at the Equinox Chamber Music & Dance Festival in Copenhagen.
Minna plays a viola by Celestino Farotto, built in 1950, generously loaned by Dextra Musica.
Renée Timmer
Renée Timmer (Groningen, 1994) is a versatile cellist with a great passion for chamber music and the contemporary repertoire. Besides her position in the ADAM Quartet, she is a regular guest in various ensembles and orchestras such as the Cello octet Amsterdam, Pynarello, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Noord Nederlands Orchestra and the Ballet Orchestra.
She started cello lessons at the age of four, which she received from Alexandra Vierkant in Groningen. In 2012, she began her studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music with Maarten Mostert. She then completed her master's with Mick Stirling in 2019. In addition to these teachers and mentors, she took master classes with Dimitri Ferschtman, Frans Helmerson, Torleif Thedéen, Jakob Koranyi and Reinhard Latzko, among others. Even during her studies, she wanted to develop as a cellist as versatile as possible. Thus, she was captain of the cello section of the National Youth Orchestra, and has always immersed herself in different styles of repertoire. Thus, she enjoys playing modern and contemporary music, remplacing with various professional orchestras, collaborating with other art forms and playing in different styles in order to explore the boundaries of (classical) music.
Renée plays on a cello built by Hein Woldring, funded with support from the Own Musical Instrument Foundation. Her bow was loaned to her by the National Musical Instruments Fund.
Portraits Margot, Hannelore and Renée: Foppe Schut - Portrait José: Juri Hiensch
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