The student Sedna Heitzman (2000) became the winner of the seventh National Viola Competition on November 27, 2021. In the final she played Der Schwanendreher by Paul Hindemith, accompanied by the CvA Wind Ensemble conducted by Bas Pollard. Second prize went to Anuschka Cidlinsky (1996) and third prize to Giulia Wechsler (1995). As part of the first prize, Sedna Heitzman will give a lunchtime concert in the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ on 2nd December at 12.30 pm.

Sedna Heitzman (2000) studies violin with Ilona Sie Dhian Ho and viola with Liesbeth Steffens at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. She has participated in masterclasses and music festivals such as the Meisterkurs Kloster Schöntal in Germany, Crans Montana Classics in Switzerland, the Orlando Festival and the Zeister Muziekdagen. At the Dutch Violin Competition she won the prize for the best performance of the commissioned composition in the Davina van Wely category.

Sedna is a violist in the Viride Quartet, which won second prize in the National Final of the Princess Christina Competition in 2018 and received a stipend from the Kersjes Fund in 2019. With this quartet she performed several times in the TV program Podium Witteman and live on NPO Radio 4. The quartet also played with renowned musicians such as Daniel Rowland, Dana Zemtsov and Anna Fedorova.

The National Viola Competition
The jury for this edition of the National Viola Competition consisted of Aart-Jan van de Pol, director of the Dutch Violin Competition; Garth Knox, violist of the Arditti Quartet; Louise Lansdown, Head of Strings at the Royal Conservatoire Birmingham; Lilli Maijala, viola teacher at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki, and Armen Nazarian, principal viola of the Philharmonie Zuidnederland and winner of the National Viola Competition in 2015.

The National Viola Competition is open to violists up to the age of 27 with Dutch nationality or who live in the Netherlands and is part of the Viola Festival Amsterdam that took place from 20 to 27 November 2021 at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and Splendor. Previous winners were Dagmar Korbar (2019), Takehiro Konoe (2017), Armen Nazarian (2015), Marc Sabbah (2013), Anna-Magdalena Den Herder & Hannah Strijbos (2011) and Saeko Oguma (2009).