In the sunny hills of the French Perigord, Ton Koopman organises a yearly "baroque itinerary": a day of travelling between concerts! I'm very happy to take part in this wonderful festival again.

Sfessania is going on tour! On the longest day of the year, we have another chance to perform at the Alba Nova Festival in Belgium. The castle of Alden Biesen sets the scene for an eclectic festival of adventurous old and new music!

The Orchestra of the 18th Century has a tradition to perform a semi-staged opera every second season. This year, we are lucky to perform a fully staged production, in collaboration with the Dutch National Opera! Cimarosa's play "Il Matrimonio Segreto" is all about love... Will Carolina be able to keep her secret marriage with servant Paolino, or will she be forced to marry a man of noble origin? Come see this fantastic show in Amsterdam!

One of the things on my bucket list for 2019, was to start thinking about ways to connect music from the past with contemporary culture. So I'm super excited that exactly halfway the year, we'll present "Sfessania" to the audience at Delft Fringe Festival! The concept for this performance was inspired by the series of paintings about "the dances called Sfessania", by the French painter Jacques Callot. It's ambiguous what these paintings are exactly about. They depict figures from the Italian Commedia dell'Arte, but the title suggests that it is all about something else... Is it about the girl Lucia, who danced and sang to make people rise from death again? "Sfessania" draws upon a strong parallel with the Commedia dell'Arte structure. We will use a framework of existing (old) music, paired with improvisation and live electronics, questioning the effects of music on the human condition. Can it cure us? Or drive us to madness? Looking forward a lot to seeing you at one of the shows!

For this project, I'm returning to my old university. But this time as a member of the Orchestra of the 18th Century! After having explored Schumann's music. The great conductor Roger Norrington, who was a pioneer in performing the romantic repertoire on historical instruments, will lead this project.

The Orchestra of the 18th Century is famous for it's interpretations of Beethoven and his predecessors, but now expands it's repertoire into the romantic era. After the succesfull Brahms project in 2018, we are now turning towards the music of Robert Schumann, featuring the fantastic soloist Jean-Guihen Queyras on cello. Gustavo Gimeno, who also conducted my very first concert with the orchestra, will lead the project.

Very happy to finally perform in my own city again, and to go to the concert by bike! Looking for a little break between work? Come to the "Pauzeconcert" in the Kloosterkerk and we will perform some higlights from Telemann and Bach's chamber music repertoire for you. Even the entrance is free!    

After finishing the 15 Matthew Passions of this season, it's time for some chamber music! With ensemble The Counterpoints, I will perform works by Telemann and Bach in the beautifull atmosphere of Kasteel Ophemert.

Since last season, I have the pleasure to play on a beautiful Jacobs violin from the collection of the Dutch National Instrument Foundation (NMF). This great organisation does not only give instruments on loan, but also organises a festival weekend in collaboration with Natuurmonumenten (the national trust for nature and wildlife). During this weekend, around 70 concerts will take place in unique and beautifull places surrounded by nature. Together with lute player David Mackor, I will perform a programme that is exploring the limits of the violin repertoire in the early 17th century. You can expect virtuosic sonatas, meditative madrigals and swinging dance movements. Come join us at the Oude Buisse Heide, where the famous writer-couple Roland-Holst once received their guests! After the concert, you can join the forester for a walk in the park!

It has almost become a tradition for me to play in the Matthew Passion project by the Nederlandse Bachvereniging. Each year, it is a very tiring, but unforgettable tour, bringing Bach's best known masterpiece to the entire country. This year is quite special, since we will perform with the well known Belgian conductor Philippe Herreweghe! It has been a long time dream to play with him, which already happened in the side-by-side project last year. But now we will get to Herreweghes best repertoire, Bach!

For this project, we will leave the entire wind section of the orchestra at home and only perform with the string orchestra! Cellist Roel Dieltiens will lead us through two of Mendelssohn's sinfonia's and play solo in the cello concerto's of Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach.

When I was in highschool, music wasn't such a serious business for me as it is now. But what I really liked was playing piano trio with my friends! Ever since, the piano trio has remained my favorite chamber music configuration. In the cosy atmosphere of a living room in Delft, we will perform one of Beethoven's most beautiful trio's (Op. 70 no. 2). A viola and double bass will be added to the ensemble for the performance of Hummels quintet. Entrance free, donations welcome!

In June 2019, the historical centre of the city of Delft will be filled with music, theatre and dance. The Delft Fringe festival is programming adventurous makers that are on the verge of an exciting career. I'm very happy to announce that the ensemble MMMM (consisting of composer Mári Máko, bass player Julian Sarmiento and myself) has been selected to take part in this festival! We will bring a performance with the title "Sfessania - Dancing to Maddness", inspired by the series of paintings "Balli di Sfessania" by Jacques Callot. Stay tuned for more info and playing dates!

Just after returning from Tenerife, I will perform in my city of birth, Rotterdam! With the Rotterdams Barok Ensemble we will perform a beautiful programme with music by J.S. Bach and some lesser known gems by the German composer Graupner.

Again the cold December month is the decor for a series of performances of Händel's Messiah. This time, I will play with my beloved Orchestra of the 18th Century. As a cherry on the cake, we will tour to the warmer realms of Spain and gain some new energy to survive winter!

With some colleagues from The Hague, this time united in Ensemble Tazetta, I will participate in a living room concert in the cozy city of Delft. Please come and join us if you are around! The programme will be a mix of French and German baroque repertoire, with composers like Dornel, Le Roux, Couperin, Clérambault, Teleman, etc. Entrance is free, but donation for our future is very welcome :)

For this tour, Maarten Engeltjes has collected some great but lesser known aria's by J.S. Bach.

With the one and only baroque ensemble of Holland's north, Luthers Bach Ensemble, we will perform Pergolesi's Stabat Mater.

The next stop of PRJCT Amsterdam will be in Lisbon! The amazingly beautiful baroque Palácio Nacional de Queluz will form the perfect decor for a performance of Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus and several aria's from Händel's opera. I will take my viola d'amore on the plane as well, for the solo "Gloria Patri" in the Nisi Dominus!

Almost since the very beginning of it's existence, the Orchestra of the 18th Century has been visiting Warschau every summer. This year, our tour to Poland will be very extended and even consist of three parts! First of all, conductor Grzegorz Nowak will lead the recording of Moniuszko's Opera The Haunted Manor. After that, the Orchestra opens the Concourse Authentique with two gala concerts in the Filharmonia Narodowa, with two Chopin Concertos and a new composition, dedicated to the memory of Frans Brüggen, by the Polish composer Pawel Szymanski. The third part consists of three concerts in the Penderecki European Center in Luslawice, the Orchestra will perform compositions by Beethoven, Chopin, Dobrzynski, Kurpinski, Weber & Wieniawski. After the return to Warsaw, the Orchestra takes part in the three finale perfomances of the Concourse Authentique. I'm looking forward a lot to discovering all these Polish gems!

This summer PRJCT Amsterdam will perform during the coolest open air classical music festival, WoNDeRFeeL! We'll bring several Baroque hits to the stage, stay tuned for a more exact programme.

Every two years, a big festival around the music of Bach takes place in the historical centre of Dordrecht. This year, I will join the ensemble The Counterpoints in a great programme around Bach and his contemporaries Telemann and Vivaldi!

In June I will come back to Leiden, where I started my studies in Greek and Latin long time ago! Together with Ensemble La Serenissima, the Castello Consort and lutenist Ciska Mertens, I will perform a few lesser known works of the Dutch scientist and multi-talent Cornelis Schuyt as well as other composers who lived or worked in Leiden.

After severe budget cuts, our dearest European Union Baroque Orchestra had to stop it's activities in the past two years. The office has now moved to Antwerp, and on the 31st of May we hope to be present at the launch of EUBO 2.0! It will be a festive concert with lot's of ex-EUBO players under the lead of the amazing Lars Ulrik Mortensen.

The death of his dear friend Robert Schumann inspired Johannes Brahms to compose his "Deutsches Requiem", that is still considered as one of the big masterpieces of classical music. The Orchestra of the 18th Century will join forces with Capella Amsterdam to perform this impressive work of art.

In May 2018, I will be back at the conservatoire where I completed my Bachelors, this time as member of the Orchestra of the 18th Century! Together with students from the school and world famous conductor Philippe Herreweghe, we will perform the Coriolan Ouverture, the 4th Piano Concerto and the 5th Symphony by Beethoven. Absolutely worth to join!

Already a year ago, the Netherlands Bach Society toured the country with Bach's 'second' Passion after St. John. This was a 'young talent project', so many amazing young singers and instrumentalists took part! I had had my first encounter with the Viola d'Amore shortly before and had the great pleasure to pick it up again for two aria's in this passion, together with the other soloist Emily Deans and singers Drew Santini and Guy Cutting. The performance in the Grote Kerk in Naarden, famous for our yearly performances of the Matthew Passion, was filmed for the platform All of Bach. Today it was released online!! Watch the full performance here, and skip to number 19 and 20 to see me and the Viola d'Amore.

I will spend also this year's passion time with De Nederlandse Bachvereniging in their famous Matthew Passion Tour all over The Netherlands.

Through my work at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague, I got the opportunity to spend four days in the amazing city of London! Of course not just for a holiday, but to visit the Reflective Conservatoire Conference, curated by former lector Helena Gaunt. I was very happy to go since this year’s theme, “artists as citizens” is one of my biggest interests and concerns. How can I be relevant in this society as a classical musician? How can we get in touch with new audiences and reach out to people in need? Are we not stuck in the past? Does conservatoire education prepare students properly for the future that awaits them? Of course, I did not find all the answers to these big questions in the conference, but I did gain some new insights and left London with new inspiration!
Naturally, the central question to the conference was how artists can engage with society and how society can value the arts. The first keynote addressed exactly this topic by looking into a report by the Arts and Humanities Council, titled “Understanding the value of arts and culture”. Briefly summarized, the report said that it is hard to find value of the arts just in economic parameters, but that we should rather look at its influence on health and social wellbeing, on the regeneration of neighbourhoods and the social capital it encompasses. I will definitely have a further look at the report!
One of the other big topics for discussion was centred around the division between art and craft and how both are represented in conservatoire education. Historically, musicians were educated as craftsmen who were extremely skilled in their instruments. Nowadays, it is not enough to just be able to play the violin at a high level, but many additional skills are needed. Musicians need to stand out and make their own way in their careers and into society. The conference showed many interesting examples of alumni, ensembles and new businesses that are very successful in doing so. Not surprisingly, many of them renewed their practice by implementing improvisation (like the Norwegian Wind Ensemble with their project “Real Time Music”). Others found very interesting ways of presenting classical music in a new context and to new audiences (for example the project Song in the City). It was very inspiring to see how all these musicians found themselves a strong artistic identity, a vision in which they believed and an artistic product that they were proud of!
Another topic that recurred throughout the conference was diversity. How can we make the teacher as well as the student body in higher arts education more representative for the extremely diverse societies we live in? Someone who really strives to making art available for everyone and to unite people through art is Helen Marriage. With her production company Artichoke, she makes the most unthinkable art installations happen in the most unexpected places. Their next upcoming event is an enormous procession with self-made banners through the entire country of England, to celebrate one hundred years of vote for women! To my great regret I missed her keynote, but to compensate for that I googled her and came across this great video of her work. Have a look at it, she is such an inspiring woman!

I'm very excited to catch a last-minute train to Antwerp and join the Terra Nova Collective Antwerp for a performance in the Klara Festival! We'll play Mozart's well known Clarinet Concerto, paired by two lesser known works by Amand Vanderhaegen (a Flemish composer) and Giovanni Paisiello. The concert will be on live radio, you can listen back via this link.

Händel's oratorio "Messiah" is a piece that brings many people in the mood for Christmas. This December I will be part of the performances by the great orchestra and choir of Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht!

La Sfera Armoniosa (founded by lute player Mike Fentross) will join forces with Dutch soprano Johannette Zomer and perform Purcell's great Music for the Theatre. A spectacle is garanteed!

PRJCT Amsterdam and Maarten Engeltjes will go on tour to France! We repeat the Stabat Mater programme in two beautiful halls in Paris and Lyon.

The Dutch radio station for classical music, Radio 4, has collected the most popular and moving pieces in their "Hart en Ziel Lijst". During a day-long festival, a lot of this music can be heard live! PRJCT Amsterdam will be part of this, and perform at 4 moments during the day. I'll play the solo's in Vivaldi's Spring and Bach's most famous aria "Erbarme Dich". Tune in at 12h, 16h10, 17h00 and 18h15!

The new ensemble PRJCT Amsterdam will go on it's first tour with great music by Vivaldi and Pergolesi. Dutch author P.F. Thomèse will connect the theme of 'stabat mater' to contemporary literature. I get the chance again to pick up the viola d'amore for the "Gloria Patri" aria in Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus!

I'm so incredibly happy to join the Orchestra of the 18th Century very last-minute for 2 concerts with the great Maria João Pires! It's a dream to play with this very powerful lady, who will be a soloist in Beethoven's 4th piano concerto.

Since many years, the Orchestra of the 18th Century has been a guest in Warsaw. In the last month of summer, I will join them on a tour to this beautiful city and perform in 6 concerts, each with another programme! As the concerts take place within the framework of the Chopin festival, the piano concerto's of this composer will be a core part of the programme. But also Haydn, Beethoven and Mendelssohn will come by.

From 21-23 July there will be another version of Holland's one and only outdoor classical music festival, Wonderfeel. Shunske Sato, Concert Master and newly appointed artistic director of De Nederlandse Bachvereniging will star in the 4 Seasons by Vivaldi!

After an incredibly long period of studying, I'm now happy to get ready for my very final master exam in "Baroque" violin! The programme includes many aspects of historical violin playing that I've got to know in the past few years, including the viola d'amore and some Beethoven.

Together with my friends of baroque ensemble Aria Variata, I will be playing a programme revolving around the girls' orphanage L'Ospedale della Pieta, that became renowned during the baroque era for the girls' brilliant musicianship. The programme will include music of the legend Antonio Vivaldi among others, and in addition to that we will play the premiere of Christian Chamoun's piece Bitter Suite, written for the ensemble. Bitter Suite is a piece made of cartoonish dry humor, contrasted with occasional passages of a more spiritual or heartwarming quality.

Dutch Counter Tenor Maarten Engeltjes will found his own ensemble, PRJCT Amsterdam. In this television show, we will give a short musical preview, and Maarten tells more about his plans!

When I just started playing Baroque Violin a few years ago, I didn’t realise that gut E strings don’t last that long. Very soon my only two strings broke and didn’t have any left before a concert. So I needed strings and I needed them directly! One of the very few luthiers that had gut strings on stock at that moment, was mr. Fred Lindeman. When I got to his workshop in Amsterdam Zuid, I found a handwritten sheet on the door saying: “please be patient, I have difficulties walking” (it reminded me how often I am hurried, and not even willing to wait for the person next in line at the supermarket!). At that very moment, I didn’t realise that mr. Lindeman was already in his eighties and that I was about to enter the house of a legendary luthier, that accompanied the first steps of the early music pioneers and restored many famous violins to their original baroque condition (including the NMF violin that I was playing at the time). That day, I left the workshop not only with a pile of new strings and good advices, but also with some great stories that Fred told me about life in Amsterdam, about the first steps towards a new approach of baroque music, and how he gained his knowledge about old violins by measuring and investigating instruments in every possible museum around the world. Every next time I needed strings, I called Fred and he would send me a handwritten envelope with the strings neatly wrapped and an invoice to his Postbank (now ING) account. Last December, I called him again and I noticed that this time it took him longer than normal to get what I said. I ordered some strings, but also his two books “The rebirth of the Baroque Violin” (about the development of restoring old instruments) and “Tussen Grond- en Boventonen” (about influencing the sound of a violin). As always, the package arrived by post a few days after. And just a week after that, I read the news that Fred passed away. I’m very sad that ordering strings will not anymore be accompanied by remarkable stories about Dutch musical life anymore, and that I’ll have to turn to the internet. At the same time, I’m so happy that I have had the chance to meet him, and that his memory is kept alive in his books, that I would advise anyone (with or without an interest in violins) to read!

In the st. John Passion Tour with De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, I will play the Viola d'Amore solo. My first encounter with this instrument was last year, when I performed Bach's Cantata 152. I had only two weeks to practice and get my fingers on the right place at 7 instead of 4 strings... Quite a challenge! Let me introduce you shortly to this curious instrument. Its body resembles a Viola da Gamba, but underneath its 6 or 7 strings we find the same amount of resonating strings. The sound holes have the shape of a flaming sword, and the scroll is often decorated with a blindfolded head of cupid (love is blind!). Some people argue that the Viola d’Amore originates in the Middle-East, where instruments with sympathetic strings had been in use for many centuries. The sound holes lend support to this theory, the flaming sword being the symbol of Islam. Although the d’Amore never became as popular as the other members of the string family, composers from the 17^th century till today have been attracted to write for it, in search of a discerning and sweet string colour. Even Prokoviev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet and Puccini’s opera La Bohème have a part for a Viola ‘d Amore!

This November I will enter the artist entrance of the Dutch National Opera for the fist time to play with the great Concerto Köln in Händel's Jephta. In this biblical story Jephta promises to God to sacrifice the first thing he sees when he comes home from the war. It turns out the first thing he sees is his only daughter... This dramatic story is turned into a great play by the cast of the Dutch National Opera and the stage design is absolutely stunning. Come see this! More info and tickets via this link.

The yearly opening of the cultural season happens at UITmarkt in Amsterdam. I'm very happy to play my first concerts with the legendary Orchestra of the 18th Century!

The Matthew Passion in Naarden, performed by the Nederlandse Bachvereniging is a legend in The Netherlands. Year after year, the Dutch government visits the passion on Good Friday. This year I will be part of it!

In the coldest month of the year, EUBO will escape to sunny Malta to perform an amazing programme with French baroque music.

A repeat of the "Taste of Baroque" programme in hibernal England!

On 'Tour' no. 4, we will head to Prague for the European Early Music Forum! We'll perform a special programme for this occasion, under the lead of Margaret Faultless.

Just in between two EUBO tours, I will lead the orchestra in the first performance of Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Virgine in Dordrecht. It is a dream coming true to perform this amazing piece!

October means another EUBO tour. We repeat the "Inspired by Italy" programme in 4 beautiful towns across Europe!

In the far east of The Netherlands, an old church has been transformed into a multidisciplinary cultural centre! Luba Podgayskaya and I will perform some Beethoven and Debussy during the festive opening.

In September 2015, EUBO 2015 will embark on its first tour! Under the guidance of Lars Ulrik Mortensen, we will perform the programme "Inspired by Italy", with works by Händel, Vivaldi, Albinoni and Corelli.

I'm very much looking forward to the annual visit of the Orchestra of the 18th Century to the great city of Warsaw! It will be a long tour this year, with contributions to the Chopin Festival and piano competion, as well as a recording of an opera by the Polish composer Moniuszko.