YOUNG TALENTS IN THE CONCERTGEBOUW - Part I
Stichting Bevordering Jong Talent (SBJT) is pleased to announce the launch of a new project: Young Talents at the Concertgebouw (Veelbelovend talent in Het Concertgebouw). A unique initiative that provides aspiring young musicians with the opportunity to perform on one of the top stages in the world.
On April 16th 2023 three young Dutch soloists - Sasha Witteween (double base), Ramon van Engelenhoven (piano) and Pieter van Loenen (violin) performed the first concert of the series, a delightful music program with works by Rachmaninoff, Ravel, and Bottesini.
Sasha Witteveen - Double Bass
Sasha Witteveen (2003) is a versatile double bass player and has won first prize in many national and international competitions such as the International Youth Bass Competition in Lucca, the Britten Contrabas Concours, the Princes Christina Concours and the Viennese Bass Days Competition.
Sasha loves to play chamber and orchestral music; she has participated in projects with members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Amsterdam Sinfonietta and often collaborates with other promising young musicians such as violinist Hawijch Elders and pianist Nikola Meeuwsen.
Since 2020, she has performed with the prestigious European Union Youth Orchestra, which has led to the opportunity to collaborate with the world’s greatest conductors such as Vasily Petrenko and Iván Fischer. She is an academist of the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer and of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Since 2018 she has been part of the LGT Young Soloists, an international string ensemble with which she performs in prestigious halls in world cities such as Vienna, Hong Kong and Singapore.Ramon van Engelenhoven (1995) began playing the piano at the age of six. He studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Frank Peters, as well as receiving lessons from Jan Wijn and Naum Grubert. In 2019, he obtained his master’s degree with the highest possible mark, a 10 out of 10. He has attended master classes with internationally acclaimed musicians such as Alexander Gavrylyuk, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Boris Berman, Paul Badura-Skoda, Leslie Howard, and Michael Voskresensky.
Ramon van Engelenhoven - Piano
Ramon van Engelenhoven (1995) began playing the piano at the age of six. He studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Frank Peters, as well as receiving lessons from Jan Wijn and Naum Grubert. In 2019, he obtained his master’s degree with the highest possible mark, a 10 out of 10. He has attended master classes with internationally acclaimed musicians such as Alexander Gavrylyuk, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Boris Berman, Paul Badura-Skoda, Leslie Howard, and Michael Voskresensky.
Ramon has been a first prize-winner of numerous Dutch competitions, among them the Steinway & Sons Competition in 2012, after which he represented his country at the International Steinway Festival in Hamburg, and the Prinses Christina Concours.
As a soloist, he has also performed with numerous orchestras across Europe, such as the Phil- harmonie Südwestfalen, the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, the North Netherlands Orchestra and the Orchestra of Gelderland. Highlights as a chamber musician include a long-standing collaboration with soprano Laetitia Ge- rards and performances of Korngold’s Piano Quintet with members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Pieter van Loenen - Violin
Pieter started playing the violin at the age of 6 under the guidance of Koosje van Haeringen, and continued his studies with Vera Beths in The Hague and Terje Moe Hansen in Oslo, Norway. From a young age, Pieter has won prizes at all the national violin competitions. In 2010, Pieter won 1st prize in the National Final of the prestigious Prinses Christina Competition.
Over the past several years, Pieter has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras throughout the Netherlands, including the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands, Domestica Rotterdam, the Dutch Student Orchestra, the South Holland Symphony Orchestra and the Hodonínský Symfonický Orchestr from the Czech Republic. Most memorable among the concertos he performed are the Beethoven, Berg, Stravinsky and Paganini violin concertos.
He is in a succesful duo with accomplished pianist Tobias Borsboom. In 2016, he appeared as a (musical) soloist in the first virtual reality ballet in the world, an innovative project with the Dutch National Ballet that connects the different art forms of ballet, music and virtual reality film.
CONCERT
Date: Sunday, 16 April 2023
Location: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam