“Music begins
where the possibilities of language end.”

Bio

Jacob Hermsen, founder & owner of Hermsen Music Studio began his musical studies at age seven with violin lessons before changing his focus to viola.
He holds postgraduate and undergraduate degrees from the Conservatory of Amsterdam, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and the Musik Hochschule ‘Carl Maria von Weber’ Dresden. He studied with Nobuko Imai, Vladimir Bukac (Talich Quartet), Michael Gieler (Principal Violist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam), and Liesbeth Steffens (Amsterdam Sinfonietta). Further studies have included masterclasses with Ervin Schiffer † (Haydn Quartet, Hon. Professor of The Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, Brussels), Thomas Riebl (Professor at the Mozarteum Salzburg),  Jean Sulem (Rosamunde Quartet), and Garth Knox (Professor at the Royal Academy of London).
After finishing his Suzuki Book 1 and Every Child Can! Teacher Training in 2018 at East Carolina University, Jacob has completed the Music Mind Games Unit 1 training in 2019, and most recently he completed the Bornoff Level 1 Workshop with Debbie Lyle in 2021. 

Teaching Experience

Jacob Hermsen has learned from his teachers who are among the best in the world. Every day he combines their knowledge, skills, musicality, and technique together with his own experience to help his students grow as a person, and as a musician. Jacob Hermsen has assisted his professor Vladimir Bukac at the Musik Hochschule ‘Carl Maria von Weber’ Dresden, he was invited to give international musical workshops for children (age 5 – 18) in The Netherlands, Germany, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the United States, and he is an active chamber music coach.
His most recent teaching engagements are currently at the National Bornoff Workshop, with the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute (NCCMI), the CODA Strings Camp together with The Raleigh Music Collective, The Lamar Stringfield Music Camp – Honors Division, and with his Hermsen Music Studio, currently serving 25+ students between 5 – 65+ years old. 
From 2019 – 2021 Jacob has been the Viola Teaching Artist with Kidznotes.
Jacob’s students continue to be set up for success in the NC All State Honors Orchestra, Triangle Youth Philharmonic Association, Governor School West NC, North Carolina Chamber Music Institute, UNC Chapel Hill, NC State University, and UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem! 

Orchestral Experience

As a principal violist, namely with Opera Carolina in Charlotte, The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, the Mittelsächsische Philharmonie Freiberg (Germany), KlangNetz Ensemble Dresden (Germany), and the Kammerphilharmonie Dresden (Germany), Jacob Hermsen has enjoyed exploring and performing the repertoire for solo viola. Other orchestras where he performed regularly include the Robert Schumann Philharmonic, and the Chemnitz Opera House, Elbland Philharmonie, Dresden Sinfoniker, Neue Lausitzer Philharmonie (all Germany), Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra (Netherlands), and Theater Baden Orchester, Baden bei Wien (Austria).
He is regularly engaged with the NC Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Opera Carolina, Tar River Orchestra, Carolina Philharmonic, and the Mallarmé Chamber Players. 

Chamber and Solo Experience

As a passionate chamber musician, Jacob is a founding member of Vida Strings, a Triangle Area-based string quartet: providing concerts, workshops, and research combining Music & Medicine.
He performed at festivals such as the ‘Grachtenfestival’ in Amsterdam, the ‘Palais Sommer Festival’ in Dresden, ‘Music Academy of Villecroze’ in Paris, ‘Franco – Czech Academy of Music’ in Telč, and NC State’s ‘Flourish Mental Health Festival’. Concert tours brought him to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, France, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, and the USA.
Jacob Hermsen has made numerous musical appearances for Dutch and German radio & television, and he performed the solos in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, the Double Concerto for Viola and Clarinet by M. Bruch, the Viola Concerto in G Major by G.P. Telemann, and played the Dutch Premiere of ‘Eulogy’ by M. A. Turnage.
His most recent solo performance included works for viola solo and percussion by Luciano Berio, Somei Satoh, and Tigran Mansurian, and was accompanied by Ballet Ensemble Timée.