Isabel Franenberg is a freelance violist from the Netherlands. She is a founding member of the Butter Quartet, and regularly plays with the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Luthers Bach Ensemble and the Laurens Cantorij en Orkest. She has been invited to play with ensembles such as il Gardellino, Tulipa Consort, The Northern Consort, Das Neue Mannheimer Orchester, and Holland Baroque.
Isabel studied historical viola at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Sayuri Yamagata and Shunske Sato and at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Kati Debretzeni. Alongside her conservatory studies, she played in the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) where she toured Europe extensively under Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Margaret Faultless and Alfredo Bernardini. She participated in masterclasses with Clive Brown, Sigiswald Kuijken, Jane Rogers, Robert Levin and Laurence Dreyfus.
Before studying viola, Isabel completed a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Musicology at the University of Utrecht with a minor in Art History. She worked as producer, manager, librarian and fundraiser for orchestras such as the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Holland Baroque and the Nederlands Studenten Orkest.