Elsa de Lacerda was born in Brussels in 1976 and began studying music at the age of seven with Nadine Wains. Prize-winner of the Charles de Bériot contest, the ‘Jeunes Talents’, ‘Jeunes Soloists’ and Horlait Dapsens contests, at the age of 15, Elsa won the ‘Crédit Communal’ contest (known today as the Axion Classics), which gave her the opportunity to perform as a soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège, under the baton of Pierre Bartholomée. She continued to perfect her skills under the tutelage of Jerrold Rubenstein. In 1994, after an audition at the ‘Conservatoire National Supérieur’ in Paris, Elsa was selected for the “Eastern Music Festival” training course in North Carolina, USA, alongside eight other European finalists. Under the tutelage of Endré Kleve, she obtained a Distinction in the Higher Diploma of violin studies at the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory. Her First Prize in chamber music and violin was also won with Distinction.   Since the end of her studies in 2003, Elsa has devoted herself to the study of the string quartet and to the foundation of the Alfama Quartet in 2005. She performs regularly in Belgium and abroad: at the Fine Arts Academy (Palais des Beaux Arts), at Flagey, the ‘Académie de Saintes’, at the Royal Palace of Brussels, the Festival of Stavelot, the Festival of ‘Midis-Minimes’ and on a Lisbon radio show, to name but a few. Alongside her career as a violinist, Elsa presents and produces classical music radio shows on the programme Musiq’ 3 on national Belgian radio (RTBF).