Pauline van der Rest

Pauline van der Rest (2004) was born in Brussels and began playing the violin at the age of six.
She studied privately with Igor Tkatchouk before joining the Young Talent Program at the IMEP Conservatory in Namur. In 2020, she began working with Boris Garlitsky, and in 2021, she started her Bachelor studies in his class at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. Since 2023, she has continued her studies at the Kronberg Academy under the guidance of Janine Jansen and Boris Garlitsky, with the generous support of the von Rom/Ludwig Heuse Patronage.

Pauline has received numerous accolades in international competitions, including first prizes at the Grumiaux Competition, the Odessa International Violin Competition, the Classic Academy Competition in Liège, and the Honda Competition, as well as second prize at the International Louis Spohr Competition in Weimar. She was also a semifinalist at the Concours Musical International de Montréal and the Queen Elisabeth Competition.

She has performed as a soloist in prestigious venues, notably the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Moscow International House of Music, Hamburg's Laeiszhalle, and the Helsinki
Musiikkitalo. Pauline has also appeared at international festivals including the Helsinki Festival, the Kronberg Festival, the Stresa Festival, the Utrecht Kamermuziek Festival, the Sion Festival, Chamber Music Connects the World, and Elba Isola Musicale d’Europa.

As a soloist, she has collaborated with renowned ensembles such as Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, the Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie, the Kremerata Baltica, and the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn.

An active chamber musician, Pauline has shared the stage with distinguished artists including Janine Jansen, Sunwook Kim, Torleif Thedéen, Gary Hoffman, Timothy Ridout, Gidon Kremer, and Amihai Grosz.

She has also participated in masterclasses with esteemed musicians such as Gidon Kremer, Iván Fischer, Sir Alfred Brendel, Sir András Schiff, Christoph Eschenbach, and Leonidas Kavakos. From 2019 to 2020, she held a scholarship that enabled her to receive regular lessons with Leonidas Kavakos. She has been studying at Kronberg Academy with Janine Jansen since 2023, currently in the Master Concert Performance. a joint degree programme of Kronberg Academy and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK Frankfurt). Her studies are funded by the Ferdinand von Rom / Ludwig Heuse patronage.