AMSTERDAM MOZART PLAYERS
KUSSMAUL, JURGEN - conductor
VERA BETHS - violin
ANNER BIJLSMA - violoncello
RAINER KUSSMAUL - violin

Sinfonia Concertante in E flat (KV 364/320D);
Concertone in C (KV 190, later 166B and KV 8:186E);
Sinfonia Concertante in A (KV Anhang 104/320E)

Amsterdam Mozart Players The Amsterdam Mozart Players were founded in 1987 with the special purpose of recording the church sonatas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In early 1989, the group was revived with an age eye to the Mozart year of 1991, the two-hundredth anniversary of the death of a composer whom many music lovers consider the greatest of all time. The Amsterdam Mozart Players consist of well-known orchestral musicians (members of orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Radio Chamber Orchestra) as well as prominent free-lance musicians. At full strength, they are a chamber orchestra (15-20 strings and any necessary winds), as an independent wind ensemble (8 winds and double bass if needed) and as an ensemble of soloists (strings one-a-part plus winds).
Violist/conductor Jürgen Kußmaul and violinist Rainer Kußmaul are the group’s artistic supervisors. Professor Marius Flothuis, the internationally renowned Mozart scholar, advises the orchestra on musicological questions. Jürgen Kußmaul Conductor Jürgen Kußmaul (1944) received his first violin lessons from his father at the age of four. He later studied in Mannheim and Salzburg and won prizes in various competitions. He was also solo violist from 1970 to 1977 with the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne, and made numerous gramophone recordings. In addition to his activities as a violist, Jürgen Kußmaul has also acquired a reputation as a conductor. He studied conducting with Sergiu Celibidache; he has been the conductor of the Robert Schumann Orchestra since 1980. He has also conducted at many international musical events (including the Berlin Bach Festival and the Festival of Flanders). Jürgen Kußmaul has been the conductor and artistic director of the Amsterdam Mozart Players since 1990.
Anner Bijlsma was born at The Hague in 1934 and received his first music lessons from his father. He later studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Carel van Leeuwen Boomkamp. He concluded his studies in 1957, at which time he was awarded the Prix d’Excellence. Anner Bijlsma gained international fame in 1959, when he won the first prize at the Casals Competition in Mexico. He was principal cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1962 to 1968. Anner Bijlsma teaches at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory. In 1982, he was Erasmus Lecturer at Harvard University. He has made a number of recordings; the best known are his performances of the Bach solo cello suites, which have become a byword for many of his colleague cellists. Anner Bijlsma is a member of several chamber ensembles including a trio with Frans Brüggen and Gustav Leonhardt, the Rondom Quartet, and a duo with fortepianist Malcolm Bilson.

Vera Beths Vera Beths studied with Herman Krebbers at the conservatory of the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum. She won the 1969 Oskar Back competition and was awarded the Prix d’Excellence in the same year. She then concluded her studies with Ivan Galamian in New York, spending her summers in the United States participating in Rudolf Serkin’s famous Marlboro Festival. Her wide-ranging musical interests have helped her to develop a diversified and extensive repertoire. For example, she not only plays the well-known concerti with symphony orchestras (including the Concertgebouw and the orchestras of the BBC), but she also performs with Willem Breuker’s Jazz orchestra. Vera Beths has performed under conductors including Haitink, Fournet, Brüggen, Maazel, Süsskind, and De Waart, and she has toured in Russia, Hungary, the United States, England, Indonesia, Germany, and Italy. She has inspired composers such as Peter Schat, Louis Andriessen, Willem Breuker, Misha Mengelberg, Geert van Keulen, Philip Glass, and John Adams, who have all written pieces for her. She has also established herself as a chamber music player.
At very young age, Rainer Kußmaul received, just like his brother, his first violin lessons from his father. He studied from 1965 to 1970 under Ricardo Odnoposoff and won prizes in competitions at a.o. Leipzig, Boekarest and Montreal. He regularly plays solo on international music festivals. Rainer Kussmaul teaches at the Hochschule für Musik of Freiburg and at the Carl Flesch Akademie of Baden-Baden. He is a member of the famous Stuttgarter Klavier Trio with Monika Leonhard and Helmar Stiehler. He has been concertmaster and artistic director of the Amsterdam’s Mozart Players since 1990.

(...) All four soloists give performances that match the best available, and the orchestra may well be the world's best in this repertoire. (...) In Tune, July/August '93
(...) Buitengewoon fraaie registraties. Volkskrant, May '93
(...) full-blooded playing that nonetheless demonstrates a healthy respect for the stylistic innovations of the early-music authorities.(...) Strings, January 1996