Quatuor Alfama

Alice Van Leuven is a sought-after violinist currently based in Brussels. Recognized as one of Klara Radio's "Twintigers" (promising talents in their twenties) in 2021, Alice has gained prominence as both a soloist and chamber musician, performing extensively in Belgium and internationally. She is equally passionate about teaching and performing, believing in the mutual enrichment of these two roles. In October 2024, she was appointed to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels' chamber music department and began teaching violin at LUCA School of Arts in Leuven.

Since September 2021, Alice has served as the first violinist of the Alfama Quartet, an ensemble acclaimed both in Belgium and abroad since its formation in 2005. Their most recent album, So Far So Close, was released by Cypres in February 2023, featuring works by Mendelssohn, Schumann, and a newly commissioned quartet by Belgian composer Patrick Leterme. Alice was also a founding member of Trio Aries, a piano trio that won the Supernova Classics Chamber Music Competition in February 2020. The trio performed at the Klara Festival in Bozar and played the 2021 Spring Concert at the Royal Palace of Brussels. Their debut album, Awakening, recorded at deSingel in Antwerp and released in November 2021, received widespread acclaim from both national and international press. Alice's recordings have been broadcast on RBBKultur, France Musique, Klara, and Musiq3, and she has appeared on several Belgian television programs.

Despite her young age, Alice has already performed at numerous prestigious international music festivals, including Yellow Barn (USA), Pacific Music Festival (JP) Festival Resonances, Klara Festival, Festival van Vlaanderen, and others across Europe. She has collaborated in chamber music formations with esteemed artists such as Aleksandar Madžar, Gilbert Kalish, Alasdair Beatson, Liza Ferschtman, Ivan Karizna, Marie Hallynck and Timothy Ridout, among many others.

Alice frequently tours with various Belgian and German ensembles, such as Het Collectief, Das Orchester im Treppenhaus and Le Concert Olympique, performing at venues like the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, the Berliner Philharmonie, and the Elbphilharmonie. She has also toured South America with the Hofkapelle Weimar and performed across Germany with the Kammerakademie Potsdam. 

Composer Frederik Neyrinck dedicated his solo violin piece "Echo de Cleves" to Alice, which she premiered in June 2020 in Bozar’s Henry Leboeuf Hall. This successful collaboration led to her involvement in Neyrinck's opera Kruistocht at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, where she performed a solo part. As a soloist, Alice has also performed with orchestras such as the Brussels Conservatory Orchestra, Brussels Sinfonietta, and the Orchestre de Chambre de la Néthen. She is a laureate of several competitions, including the Belfius Classics, where she won first prizes in both the violin and chamber music categories, and was a finalist in the 2015 Young Belgian Talent Competition.

Alice holds a master’s degree from the Universität der Künste in Berlin, where she studied violin with Mark Gothoni and chamber music with the Artemis Quartet. Before that, she trained with Philippe Graffin at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and with Susanna Yoko Henkel at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne. Alice remains profoundly grateful to her early mentors, Alain Meulemans and Erik Sluys, who nurtured her development from her first steps with the violin through to conservatory level. Over the course of her studies, she had the privilege of participating in masterclasses with distinguished artists such as Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Antje Weithaas, Andras Keller, and Barnabas Kelemen at prestigious festivals including IMS Prussia Cove (UK), Les Rencontres Musicales Internationales d’Enghien, and the Bartók Seminar in Hungary. Alice has always had a deep passion for string quartet performance, benefitting from the expert guidance of members of the Doric, Belcea, Danel, and Prazak String Quartets.

October 2024