NIKOLA MEEUWSEN WINS QUEEN ELISABETH COMPETITION 2025
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After the semifinals in the 2025 Queen Elisabeth Competition In May 2025, Belgian television broadcaster RTBF wrote:
'The highlight of the evening was the recital by the Dutch candidate Nikola Meeuwsen, who performed Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses, followed by Liszt’s Après une lecture du Dante. And although this could already be sensed in the earlier rounds, here we truly discovered a great artist. Fire, boldness, risk – a truly gripping Mendelssohn – and especially in the Liszt, we saw a poetic storyteller. He has a way of playing that toys with time; he held the audience in such prolonged silences that he seemed to compel them into stillness. Nikola Meeuwsen is truly a future great pianist.'
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After his Prokofiev 2 with Brussels Philharmonic, Belgian newspaper DE STANDAARD wrote:
'His hall-filling sound projection and pianistic eloquence evoke memories of the greatest artists.'
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And after the competition Dutch newspaper TROUW wrote:
'In the monumental solo cadenza of the first movement, Meeuwsen encapsulated his astonishing power within profound emotional depths and a rare insight into Prokofiev’s musical architecture.'
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Nikola Meeuwsen (2002) is one of the most notable young pianists in the Netherlands. In May 2025 he won the 2025 Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 2022 he was awarded the Grachtenfestival Award (which led to his residency in the festival edition 2023), in 2019 he received The Concertgebouw Young Talent Award, in 2014 the Royal Concertgebouw Competition, and in 2012 Nikola won the Steinway Competition. The Dutch national broadcaster AVROTROS presented his debut album with works by Schumann, Scriabin, Brahms and Bach.
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Despite his young age, he has an extensive list of solo and chamber music performances, having worked with symphony orchestras such as the Brussels Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Nehterlands Philharmonic, Lithuanian National Orchestra, and Sinfonia Varsovia.
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Nikola Meeuwsen is a regular guest at Dutch and international festivals, and has played with ensembles such as Chianti Ensemble, Matangi Quartet, and Ragazze Quartet. He teamed up with violinists Janine Jansen and Alexander Kerr, violist Vladimir Mendelssohn and in piano duos with Igor Roma, Anna Fedorova, Thomas Beijer, Avedis Kouyoumdjian and Enrico Pace.
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Nikola Meeuwsen studies with Marlies van Gent, with Enrico Pace at the prestigious Accademia Pianistica di Imola, and at the Queen Elisabeth Chapel in Brussels with Frank Braley and Avedis Kouyoumdjian.
Future engagements include concerts with Phion, and Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. And chamber music with Enrico Pace, Alexander Warenberg, Benjamin Kruithof, Noa Wildschut, Fibonacci Quartet, and Barbican Quartet. With Channel Records he will release in spring 2026 the first of a series of three albums.ā
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General management
Marco van de Klundert - managing director
T: +316 21 50 34 80
Press/production
Alyssa Huisman - assistant artist manager
T: +316 34 11 23 30ā¬
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Photo below: Foppe Schut