Sigiswald Kuijken
Few other violinists have made such a significant contribution to the rediscovery of historical playing techniques as the Dutchman Sigiswald Kuijken. Born in Dilbeek, near Brussels, in 1944, he was introduced to Renaissance music as a child, and remains captivated by it to this day. After graduating from the Conservatoire in Bruges in 1964, he first became a member of the Alarius Ensemble and, from 1969 onwards, began to explore forgotten violin techniques. With the founding of the ensemble La Petite Bande in 1972 – which performs exclusively on original instruments – Kuijken eventually specialised in the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. At the same time, he has been performing with the Kuijken Quartet since 1986. Alongside his active career as a musician, he taught as a professor of Baroque violin at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague from 1971 to 1996 and at the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels from 1993 to 2009. Since 2004, Kuijken has been committed to the musical rediscovery of the violoncello da spalla – a tenor-range string instrument played whilst suspended from a strap.