The Lumaka Ensemble
“Lumaka transports the audience with playful ease into a new world of atmospheres and colours, of moods and exotic thoughts”
The Lumaka Ensemble, based in Amsterdam, is currently one of the Netherland’s most active chamber ensembles; its instrumentation of harp, flute, and string trio combine to make a unique sound world.
The Lumaka Ensemble began their career almost 15 years ago when they won the International Chamber Music Competition in Almere and Het Debuut amongst other competitions. They perform in major festivals and regularly give concerts both in the Netherlands and abroad. Heard frequently on Dutch Radio 4 and Concertzender.
For special projects the Ensemble also collaborates with actors, writers, and lighting designers. They often provide personal introductions to their programmes, making their concerts an experience, mind-expanding with fairytale like qualities.
In their concert series MOnuMENTEN 1920, the ensemble combines its enthusiasm for music from between the two World Wars with new forms of concert-giving performing in buildings from the same period.
Season 2016-2017 saw the ensemble tour their production Visionaire Timbres 1926, in the Netherlands to great acclaim, receiving high praise from the Dutch Volkskrant, which described their ensemble playing as simply “excellent”.
Jana Machalett, flute; Saskia Viersen, violin; Martina Forni, viola; Charles Watt, violoncello; Miriam Overlach, harp
Miriam Overlach (Germany) takes great pleasure in devising new projects for herself and for Lumaka; she is always looking for challenging collaborations with other musicians, composers, and theatre makers. She has won the Concertgebouw Vriendenkransconcours, the Deutsche Musikwettbewerb and the Nederlands Harpconcours. Much in demand for performing contemporary music she is one of the founders of ComposingforHarp. She appears as a guest artist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Ensemble Modern.
Jana Machalett (Germany) is a highly sought-after flautist in particularly for contemporary chamber music. She is a founding member and one of the artistic directors of the Lumaka Ensemble, and was a permanent member of Insomnio. Next to Lumaka she also founded two new ensembles: Postland and Trio Het. Jana also appears regularly with the Asko|Schoenberg Ensemble, Ensemble Modern and the New European Ensemble. She has collaborated with conductors Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, and Reinbert de Leeuw.
Martina Forni (Italy) plays viola in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. She plays both modern and baroque viola. She has been a member of the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, the GoYa Quartet Amsterdam, and performed regularly as a guest with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Anima Eterna Brugge and the Orchestra of the 18th Century. She finds that the less than sunny weather prevalent in the Netherlands is happily compensated by her dynamic musical life in Amsterdam with the Lumaka Ensemble and several other groups.
Charles Watt (Great Britain) has been the cellist of the Lumaka Ensemble since 2012. He performs regularly with Asko|Schönberg, Ensemble Modern, Nieuw Ensemble, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and is a permanent member of Insomnio. Prior to moving to The Netherlands, Charles taught at the internationally renowned Yehudi Menuhin School, the Purcell School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.