Ella van Poucke

Cello and jury

Ella van Poucke (1994) started playing the cello when she was six years old. She studied at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague and the Conservatory of Amsterdam, after which she continued her studies with Frans Helmerson at the Kronberg Academy in Germany. From 2016 to 2019, she studied with Gary Hoffman at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels. 

She has also received lessons from Steven Isserlis, Menahem Pressler, Mischa Maisky, and the Emerson Quartet. She has won prizes at various national and international competitions. In 2015, she won the first prize at the Isang Yun Cello Competition in Korea and in 2017, Ella won the Grachtenfestival Prize and the Premio Chigiana.

Ella has performed as a soloist with major Dutch and international orchestras. She is also an active chamber musician. At the Cello Biënnale in 2012, she gave the premiere of Uljas Pulkkis’ cello concerto. In 2021, she released a CD with Robert Schumann’s complete works for the cello. 

Ella van Poucke has been a professor at the Conservatory of Amsterdam since 2022.

She plays a Giovanni Paolo Maggini cello from 1620, on loan from an anonymous sponsor.

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