Den Haag Piano Quintet winner of the 16th International van Wassnaer Competition 2011
16th Edition: BLOW IT! Fresh air in Baroque Music with Erik Bosgraaf



   COMPETITION
   jury








16.jpg

Benny Aghassi
Erik Bosgraaf
Lucy van Dael
Bas Heijne
Krijn Koetsveld
Peter Kooy
Xavier Vandamme

biographies
Benny Aghassi

Benny Aghassi, born in Israel, received his Bachelor of Music degree at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he studied with Sébastien Marq (recorder) and Donna Agrell (historical bassoons), and completed his Masters degree with Heiko ter Schegget at The Conservatory of Utrecht. Benny currently plays with orchestras such as Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, The Netherlands Bach Society, 18th Century Orchestra, B’Rock and Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. He received an ongoing grant from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (1997-2005), and has won various early-music performance prizes in Israel in recent years. He lives in The Hague, and teaches historical bassoon at Amsterdam Conservatory.

back to the top

Erik Bosgraaf

Hailed as one of the most gifted and versatile recorder players of the new generation, Erik Bosgraaf has a colourful past in a rock band and as an oboe player. He believes that good music is irrespective of style and feels equally at home in early and contemporary music as well as commissioning new works including several concertos incorporating new media. In 2007 Frans Brüggen invited him to perform Bach's Actus Tragicus at the Concertgebouw. Current engagements include solo performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra/Jaap van Zweden and the Dutch Radio Chamber Philharmonic/Thierry Fischer. His début recording, a 3-CD box with music by Dutch composer Jacob van Eyck, was number one in the Dutch classical music charts in 2007 and his CD/DVD 'Big Eye', including contemporary music for film, was hailed as 'wacky, irreverent and thought-provoking' (Gramophone). He has also made CDs of Telemann, Bach, Handel and Vivaldi. In 2006 he co-founded Ensemble Cordevento specializing in the music of the 17th and 18th century. Born in The Netherlands in 1980, Erik Bosgraaf is a former student of Walter van Hauwe and Paul Leenhouts (Amsterdam). He also holds an MA in musicology from Utrecht University and received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2009.

back to the top

Lucy van Dael

Lucy van Dael studied violin at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. 
She began her career as a member of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Szimon Goldberg, but soon became interested in the baroqueviolin. 

She therefore started a long collaboration with Gustav Leonhardt, Frans Brüggen, Ton Koopman (Musica da Camera), and the Kuyken brothers, becoming in the process one of the leading figures in the revival of authentic string playing. 

She has appeared with many ensembles and orchestras - among them the Leonhardt Consort, La Petite Bande and the Orchestra 18th Century - as violin or viola soloist. 

With Frans Brüggen, she founded the Orchestra of the 18th Century, and was for 18 years its concertmaster. 

She is a member of the Amsterdam Fortepiano Trio and L'Archibudelli, and performs regularly with harpsichordist Bob van Asperen and cellist Jaap ter Linden.

Lucy van Dael is also increasing in demand as a conductor amongst orchestras worldwide. She was guest conductor of the European Union Baroque Orchestra, Concerto d'Amsterdam, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Beethoven Akademie, Academia Montis Regalis, amongst others. 

A member of the faculty of the Amsterdam Conservatory, she is internationally sought after as a pedagogue, and has been visiting professor in Stanford, Berkeley, Basel, Melbourne, Oslo, Hamburg, Jakarta, as well as having given courses throughout the world. 

Her extensive discography brought her several gramophone awards, like the Polish "Fryderyk'97", and the Dutch "Edison". It includes numerous recordings on a wide variety of labels, including : Emi, Sony, RCA, Philips, Telefunken, Harmonia Mundi, Archiv and Naxos: J.S.Bach's soloviolin sonatas.

back to the top

Bas Heijne
back to the top

Krijn Koetsveld

Krijn Koetsveld, artistic leader of the Nederlands Bach Ensemble, was born in 1953. He studied organ, piano, orchestra and choir conducting under Frans Moonen and church music at the Conservatories of Music in The Hague and Rotterdam. He followed courses under Gustav Leonhardt and Nikolaus Harnoncourt in order to gain more in-depth knowledge in the field of baroque and classical instrumental and vocal music.

In the past, Krijn Koetsveld has conducted, among other choirs, the Dutch Church Music Ensemble, the Dutch Radio Choir and the Dutch Theatre Choir. He was guest conductor and worked as repetiteur with the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Dutch Radio Choir, the Baroque Festival and the Conservatory of Music in Malmö (Sweden), Turin (Italy), Wroclaw (Poland) and Lugano (Switserland) and la Choeur de Radio France in Paris.

Krijn Koetsveld founded the Early Music Foundation in 1986. This foundation organizes the Van Wassenaer Concours for early music every two years. He is the artistic director of this competition. In 2006 in collaboration with a number of other musicians, he founded the Nuove Musiche, which aims to focus on the repertoire of early baroque singers and instrumentalists. The first few performances were hailed enthusiastically, so great plans have been made for the future and 2 CDs with Monteverdi madrigals where planned and are released in 2008.

Krijn Koetsveld worked at the Utrecht Academy of Arts, where he operated as senior lecturer in choral conducting and director of studies of professional ensemble singing. He was a member of the faculty board at the Utrecht Academy of Arts from 1995 until 2001, before he was in charge as artistic leader at the Enschede Conservatory of Music until 2006. After retiring from music vocational education, he started a company for training and coaching. Talent, ambition and inspiration are key words, with music a metaphor playing an important role.





back to the top

Peter Kooy

Peter Kooij started his musical career at 6-years-old as a choir boy and sang many solo soprano-parts in concerts and recordings. He started his musical studies however as a violin student. This was followed by singing tuition from Max van Egmond at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, which led to the award of the diploma for solo performance. He has been an active soloist in many concerts all over the world in the most important concert-halls like Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Wien, Carnegie Hall New York, Royal Albert Hall London, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Berliner and Kölner Philharmonie, Palais Garnier Paris, Suntory and Casals Hall Tokyo, where he performed with famous conductors like Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, Frans Brüggen, Gustav Leonhardt, René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, Roger Norrington and Iwan Fisher. His wide repertoire contains all kind of music from Schütz to Weill and he has made over 150 CDs for Philips, Sony and Virgin Classics, Harmonia Mundi, Erato, EMI and BIS. He was invited by BIS to record the complete Bach cantatas, passions and masses with the Bach Collegium Japan under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki. Peter Kooij is the artistic director of the "Ensemble Vocal Européen". From 1991 to 2000 professor at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. From 1995 to 1998 Lehrauftrag at the Musikhochschule in Hannover. Since 2000 Professor at the Tokyo University of fine Arts and Music. From September 2005 professor at the Royal Conservorium in Den Haag He was invited to give master classes in Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Finnland and Japan.

back to the top

Xavier Vandamme

Xavier Vandamme (1972) is artistiek en zakelijk directeur van de Organisatie Oude Muziek, die instaat voor het jaarlijkse Festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht, en het Seizoen Oude Muziek op een veertigtal locaties in Nederland en België.

Hij was jarenlang programmeur oude muziek bij het Brusselse Paleis voor Schone Kunsten. Daarvoor werkte hij als radioproducer bij de Vlaamse cultuurzender Klara, waar hij een dagelijks cultuurmagazine vormgaf en presenteerde. Hij is nog steeds docent radiopresentatie aan de Brusselse Erasmus Hogeschool. Xavier Vandamme was vaste muziekjournalist bij verschillende kranten, waaronder De Standaard.

back to the top


   © 2008/10 Van Wassenaer Concours | Contact | Disclaimer | Privacy | Credits | Site Map | Website: Felicia designs