Christina Schoonakker is a Dutch/South African violist who grew up in the UK, studying as a music scholar at Wells Cathedral school.
She has received ongoing coaching and mentoring from Sophia Rahman since 2021, and is currently in the second year of her Masters degree at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Atte Kilpeläinen, Hanna Pakkala and Lilli Maijala. She works with the Finnish National Opera Orchestra since Autumn 2022 and most recently with the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra.
Christina completed her undergraduate degree at The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Asdis Valdimarsdottir, and also studied Early Music with Walter Reiter. She performs on historical violin and viola alongside modern.
She has studied free improvisation in the Dutch impro academy, working with members of the Instant Composers Pool in 2020. Later the same year, she represented her conservatoire at the METRIC European improvisation conference.
Christina enjoys collaborating across all art forms, and took part in the international poetry festival Rotterdam 2019 working with South African writer Antjie Krog. Christina also creates visual art and exhibited her work alongside friend and colleague Dave Shaw as part of the 2023 Whittington Festival.