Mona Verhas is a Belgian violinist born in 1997.

Mona started playing the violin at the age of 4 with Koen Rens. Afterwards, she studied with Erik Sluys at the Music Academy of Anderlecht, was accepted into the Young Talent Class at Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp in 2013 and obtained her Bachelor’s degree there with Prof. Alissa Margulis. In 2018, she was admitted to the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main with Prof. Erik Schumann, where she obtained her Master’s degree and with whom she continues to study in the Konzertexamen/Solistenklasse programme.

Mona took master classes with grandmasters such as Midori Goto, Pavel Vernikov, Svetlana Makarova, Dora Schwarzberg, Renaud Capucon, Jan Talich, Philippe Graffin, Barnabas Kelemen, Julia Fischer, Miriam Fried, Eberhard Feltz, Alexeï Moshkov, Gilles Millet, Heime Müller, Marc Danel, and many others.

She won First Prize at ‘The International Soloist Competition’ in Cièza, and at the ‘Soloist Competition Youth and Music Antwerp’, won Second Prize at the ‘International Knopf Competition’ in Düsseldorf, First Prize and Audience Award at the ‘Rotary Breughel Competition’ in Brussels, First Prize at the ‘Belfius Classics Competition’ in Brussels, a Förderpreis at e Chambermusic Competition ‘Polytechnischer Wettbewerb HfMDK Frankfurt’, and was finalist at the ‘International Ysaÿe Competition’ in Liège and the ‘Vieuxtemps Competition’ in Verviers. With her string quartet Sonoro Quartet, she won Third Prize and 2 Special Prizes at the Bartok World Competition in Budapest.

She has had the opportunity to play as a soloist with orchestras since an early age, playing with orchestras such as ‘Brussels Sinfonietta’ at Flagey Hall and Brussels Conservatory Hall, with ‘Prima La Musica’ at De Munt La Monnaie Brussels, with ‘Oost Vlaams Symfonisch Orkest’, with ‘AMAJ’ at deSingel and AMUZ Antwerp, with ‘Ensemble Orchestral de Bruxelles’ at Brussels Conservatory Hall, with the GUSO, and others.

Mona is active in solo, chamber and orchestral music. She has played numerous recitals and chamber music concerts at various festivals such as the ‘Festival Oost- Vlaanderen’, the ‘Arte Amanti Festival’, the ‘B-Classic Festival Vlaanderen’, the ‘Pietrasanta In Concerto’ Festival, ‘Brussels Chopin Days’, the ‘Rheingau Musik Festival’; Pianofest Sint-Niklaas, Euterpe Vzw, Klassiek Leeft Knokke, the Young Generation Concerts at BOZAR Brussels, and many others.

Mona has already played with orchestras such as the Munt/La Monnaie, the Brussels Chamber Orchestra and regularly tours with orchestra ‘Le Concert Olympique’ in venues such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Konzerthaus Vienna and the Elbphilarmonie Hamburg.

Mona recently won the audition for Deputy Leader 2nd Violin with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and will begin her trial in September 2022.

Together with violinist Jeroen De Beer, viola player Seamus Hickey and cellist Paul Heyman, she founded her own string quartet, Sonoro Quartet, in 2019. Winner of the 2021 Bartók World Competition in Budapest, and heard on national and international stages, Sonoro Quartet profiles itself as one of the most promising string quartets of the young generation. The quartet is currently studying at the Dutch String Quartet Academy in Amsterdam (NSKA), where they are taking lessons and master classes with renowned musicians such as members of Quatuor Danel, Quatuor Ebène and Eberhard Feltz. Coached mainly by Marc Danel and Gilles Millet, the quartet also took lessons from Heime Müller, co-founder of the Artemis Quartet.

Despite being a relatively young ensemble, they were already making a name for themselves and could be heard on numerous stages. Recent and future highlights include concerts at Amuz and deSingel in Antwerp, De Bijloke in Ghent, Bozar in Brussels, Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht, Stadsgehoorzaal Leiden, National Concert Hall in Dublin, Liszt Academy, Bartók Memorial House and Auer Festival in Hungary, Festival Midis-Minimes, B- Classic-Festival and West-Cork Chamber Music Festival. The Sonoro Quartet also played the premiere of German composer Eric Domenech’s first string quartet at the Beethoven Festival 2020 in Bonn, broadcast on SWR television. The quartet has also already been heard on Klara, RTE (Irish national radio) and Hungarian national radio and television. In the 2021-2022 season, in addition to several important debut concerts, the Sonoro Quartet will play a tour of Ireland featuring masterpieces by Haydn, Schubert, Beethoven and Bartok, as well as a project around the composer César Franck with a concert tour in Belgium to mark his 200th birthday. They will also tour Switzerland and New Zealand in 2023. In addition to the large repertoire for string quartet, Sonoro Quartet collaborates with contemporary composers, and they also consider it important to bring lesser-known works from the past to the concert hall.

Mona plays on a violin by François Pique, 1805, Paris, France.