Clara de Groote

Clara de Groote was born in Frankfurt am Main in 2002. The percussionist started playing the violin at the age of five, but discovered her love for the drumset when she was eleven. She has been playing classical percussion since 2015.
At the German national competition ""Jugend Musiziert"" in 2017, Clara was awarded with a 1st prize in the category ""New Music"", accompanied by a special prize.
In 2018, Clara became a junior student at the Hochschule für Musik ""Hanns Eisler"" Berlin and is since then studying with Professors Franz Schindlbeck, Rainer Seegers (both Berlin Philharmonic) and Li Biao. She also received lessons from Ni Fan and Lukas Böhm (Duo DoubleBeats) or took part in masterclasses with Wieland Welzel and Pete Lockett, to name a few. After graduating from high school in 2019, the young musician continued her percussion studies in Berlin in the Bachelor's program.
As a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Germany, work periods with conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Ingo Metzmacher and Alexander Shelley have taken her to Germany's largest concert halls, including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Gewandhaus Leipzig and the Berlin Philharmonie. Tours have also taken her abroad, for example to the Luxembourg Philharmonie or, as in summer 2019, to South Africa.
Furthermore, she has played concerts with the Karajan Academy, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and ensemble reflektor.
She has been awarded numerous scholarships, and is supported by ""Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now e.V."" Frankfurt am Main, Mozart-Gesellschaft Dortmund and Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. Within the framework of these scholarships, she has already performed several times as a soloist with orchestras such as the ""dogma chamber orchestra"", Bavarian Chamber Orchestra Bad Brückenau and others.
From February to July 2022, she also gained valuable orchestral experience in the percussion section of the Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra, where she completed an internship.
Clara was selected as a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) in 2023.