looking back

on 2025

New Talents, New Sounds

In 2025, the Musical Instrument Fund loaned instruments or bows to no fewer than 68 (new) talents. These instruments will enable them to further develop their talent and pursue their musical ambitions. The youngest of these musicians was only 10 years old, while the “oldest” was celebrating his 48th birthday.

Of this impressive group of talented musicians, 38 came from abroad. They have settled in the Netherlands to study or work here and, much to our delight, are bringing new talent and new knowledge to our musical landscape.

Discover new talents

In addition, we were able to delight 89 musicians by providing them with an instrument or bow on a project basis. Although this loan is temporary, we hope that the memory of the instrument will continue to resonate for a long time to come. Members of the Dutch Student Orchestra and Nesko also made temporary use of our instruments this year. They enthusiastically explored Dutch contemporary violin making.

The icing on the cake is the 15 refugee musicians who, thanks to our emergency relief campaign, were able to get their hands on an instrument again. Donors and contributors to this special project provided an incredibly important source of support for musicians who had to leave their own instruments behind during their flight. We hope that in the new year, even more refugee musicians will have the opportunity to continue playing through this campaign.

Refinement of the Collection

The collection of the Musical Instrument Fund was expanded in 2025 with the addition of new instruments and bows: ranging from centuries-old pieces to newly crafted ones, and from violas to double basses. Of these, 17 instruments were donations. Such donations often come with a special story, which makes each moment of receipt even more special. We are immensely grateful for this.

The oldest of these instruments is an Italian violin dating from around 1750, attributed to violin maker Gregorio Antoniazzi. It was also a special year in terms of new instruments: 5 instruments built in 2025 found their way into our collection. These include a violin by Bas Maas and 2 new pan flutes, built by Flentrop Orgelbouw. This metal pan flute is the result of years of research, experimentation, and evaluation by a team of experts, with Matthijs Koene as the driving artistic force, and made possible by Het Muziekinstrumentenfonds.

Restorations

A less visible but very important part of our work is maintenance. In 2025, 77 instruments required maintenance, ranging from minor paint repairs to the installation of a new bridge. In addition, 7 major restorations were carried out, which are essential for preserving the (keyboard) instruments for future generations.

View the collection

Events

This year, we organized 23 concerts, of which 14 were held in collaboration with Natuurmonumenten as part of the Music & Monuments Concerts series. We’ll be leaving the old name—the NMF Chamber Music Festival at Natuurmonumenten—behind in 2025!

During a special concert in May, the Musical Instrument Fund invited benefactors and other associates to Schiedam for the unveiling of two beautiful CDs. Hawijch Elders and Nino Gvetadze performed works featured on the CDs 300 Years of Violins and 225 Years of Keyboard Instruments.

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