Karlien Bartels grew up in a family with a strong background in classical music and began studying in the Young Talents Class at the North Netherlands Conservatory at the age of twelve. Shortly after graduating from high school, she moved to Paris to continue her studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur under Michel Strauss, where she earned her master’s degree with a “Premier Prix.” She received chamber music instruction from Itamar Golan, Marc Coppey, and Vladimir Mendelssohn, among others. In addition, she took valuable masterclasses with musicians such as Alexander Rudin, David Geringas, Gustav Rivinius, Lluis Claret, Ivry Gitlis, and the Juilliard String Quartet. While studying in Paris, she earned a Second-Phase diploma from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and subsequently perfected her playing under Reinhard Latzko at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. During her studies, she was admitted to the Academy of the Orchestre de Paris at the invitation of Christoph Eschenbach.
Her career has taken her to most European countries, the U.S., and Japan. She has given recitals in renowned European venues such as the Salle Pleyel, Cité de la Musique, the Rudolfinum, Reduta Hall, and Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, and has performed concerts as part of the “New Masters on Tour” series of the International Holland Music Sessions. As a soloist, she has performed the cello concertos by Schumann, Dvořák, Haydn, Elgar, Lalo, and Saint-Saëns. She is regularly invited to serve as the substitute principal cellist with the National Orchestra of Belgium and as principal cellist with PHION. She has also performed with the Orchestre de Paris under conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Herbert Blomstedt, Andris Nelsons, Paavo Järvi, and others. She has collaborated closely with pianist Mami Hagiwara, with whom she performed a number of important commemorative concerts in Hiroshima during a tour of Japan. In Paris, she spent several years as a cellist with the Trio Lehmann and the Ensemble Eria, and she is currently a member of the Dutch Gauguin Ensemble; their CD *Color Soni* (trios by Brahms, Zemlinsky, and Zuidam) received a perfect score of 10 in *Luister*. Together with cellist Florent Maigrot, she forms a cello duo, for which the Japanese composer Kenji Sakai wrote the piece “l’Espace Interieur.”
Karlien is a regular guest at various chamber music festivals, including the Krakow Cello Spring Festival, Kuhmo Chamber Music, the Encore Music Festival, the Festival of Richelieu, the Schiermonnikoog Chamber Music Festival, and the Aurora Festival. As a laureate of several competitions (including the Princess Christina Competition, the Young Music Talent Foundation, the Foundation for Excellent Young Musicians, and the Concours Internationale Flame Paris), she has received scholarships for exceptional talent, including the Dutch Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund Scholarship, the Nuffic Talent Scholarship, and prestigious French scholarships from Société Générale and the Fondation Meyer.
Since 2012, Karlien Bartels has been a principal cello instructor at the ArtEZ Conservatory in Zwolle, and she is regularly invited by the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków and the Conservatorio Superior de Música Manuel Castillo in Seville to give masterclasses. She plays a cello by C.A. Miremont (Paris, 1882), made available to her by the Musical Instrument Fund.
