Cindy - profile

Cindy Albracht

1st violin

Interview

When and where was your first concert with the MCO? My first concert with the new official MCO was in Landshut, with Iván Fischer, playing Bartók’s Divertimento and Prokofiev’s Symphonie Classique. I remember well the excitement I felt being part of a new orchestra, and at the same time still having the feeling of being warmly connected to all the help and the organisational experience from GMJO. And, of course I already knew almost all my new colleagues from GMJO!

What is your most memorable moment with the orchestra? Difficult to choose just one! There has not been a single MCO concert that hasn’t fulfillled me greatly! Perhaps because it happened in summertime I have a particularly special memory of playing operas in Aix: Prokofiev’s Three Oranges, Mozart's Don Giovanni and Tchaikovsky’s Eugen Onegin. During one rehearsal, Daniel Harding took lead of the second violins (with questionable experience) under the baton of Claudio Abbado. The concert was outdoors, under a sky full of stars, in Aix-en-Provence. Very memorable!

Can you tell us something about your instrument? Oh, I really love my violin… My violin is miraculous. It has so many different facets – it’s strong, yet very sensitive. It has such a deep beautiful sound! It never gets boring to hear my violin. It is unusually big – bigger than normal violins – so I had to have a special case made in Cremona.

How do you spend your free time? I love to swim and take long walks, spend time with friends and family and practice Buddhist meditation.

The first piece of music you fell in love with:

Chopin’s Études for Piano Opus 10, No. 1, and Opus 25, No. 1. My father is a pianist. I used to really love to lie under the grand piano and listen to him playing Chopin. I was overwhelmed by all the magical sounds. I was really small, and hadn’t encountered string quartet music yet.

Biography

Cindy Albracht studied with Jan Repko, Davina van Wely and Else Krieg at the conservatory of Amsterdam, and with Gerhard Schulz at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. She graduated with the highest distinction for both her Bachelor and Master exams. Cindy took Masterclasses and additional studies with a.o. Herman Krebbers, Denes Zsigmondy, Victor Liberman and Thomas Brandis.   

As first violinist of the Romeo Quartet, Cindy worked intensively with a.o. members of the Amadeus Quartet, the Alban Berg Quartett and the Borodin Quartet; also with Isaac Stern, György Kurtág and Andreas Rainer. 

Her passion for chamber music also showes in her collaborations with musicians such as Janine Jansen and the Faust Quartett. 

She won prizes at several competitions, with and without her string quartet, including at the Dutch national Violin Competition Oscar Back, and the Vriendenkrans Competition of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. 

Next to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, she has been working in the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, from 2007–17 as leader of the 2nd violins, and since 2018 as Associate Concertmaster. 

Cindy plays on a violin built in 1705 by Alessandro Gagliano.