“Exceptionally energetic and deeply musical,” was the jury’s comment at the Dutch Violin Competition, where Pieter van Loenen won second prize and the NTR Audience Award in 2016. Since then, this young violinist’s career has taken off.
“Exceptionally energetic and deeply musical,” was the jury’s comment at the Dutch Violin Competition, where Pieter van Loenen won second prize and the NTR Audience Prize in 2016. Since then, this young violinist’s career has taken off. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with a 10 with honors and received the Fock Medal for the best final exam. As a soloist and chamber musician, he now gives concerts both at home and abroad, most recently on tours to the United States and China. In the summer of 2018, he spent three weeks in the spotlight as Young Artist in Residence for the National Youth Orchestra’s Music Summer. Pieter has been nominated for the 2019 Dutch Classical Talent Award, which means he will tour all the major concert halls in the Netherlands with a solo program during the March 2019 season.
Pieter began playing the violin at age 6 with Koosje van Haeringen, after which he studied with Vera Beths in The Hague and with the Norwegian violin virtuoso Terje Moe Hansen in Oslo. From a young age, Pieter won prizes at various competitions, including the Iordens Violin Days and the Davina van Wely Violin Competition. In 2010, Pieter won first prize at the national finals of the Princess Christina Competition.
As a soloist, Pieter has performed with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Domestica Rotterdam, the Netherlands Student Orchestra, the Netherlands Youth Orchestra, the South Holland Symphony Orchestra, and the Hodonínský Symfonický Orchestr from the Czech Republic, among others. The concertos he has performed include those by Beethoven, Paganini, Stravinsky, and Berg.
Together with pianist Tobias Borsboom, he forms a much-in-demand duo. He has also collaborated with ensembles such as Amsterdam Sinfonietta and Ludwig, as well as with the Dutch National Ballet, where he performed the lead musical role in the world’s first virtual reality ballet.
Pieter has a particular interest in contemporary music. For example, in 2012 he performed Luciano Berio’s Sequenza No. 8 at a national Berio festival. He has also had several opportunities to work with the renowned pianist and conductor Reinbert de Leeuw. In 2015, Pieter performed the solo part in the Dutch premiere of the double concerto for violin and piano by Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen.
Pieter’s violin was built in 2011 by Marc de Sterke. He plays with a bow by Eugène Sartory, which he has on loan from Het Muziekinstrumentenfonds.
