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photo Melle Meivogel

Nikola Meeuwsen (2002) has already had a remarkably mature career. He made his full-length solo debut at the Concertgebouw on 19 January 2024, performing works by Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, and Schumann. In 2025, he will perform as a soloist with the Residentie Orkest for the third time, playing Frédérick Chopin's 1st piano concerto.

At 20, Nikola became the youngest musician ever to win the Grachtenfestival Prize and was the artist in residence of this Amsterdam festival in 2023. He was awarded the Concertgebouw Young Talent Award in 2019.

Nikola Meeuwsen is expanding his horizons by performing internationally. He played, among other things, Grieg's Piano Concerto in the famous Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum in Prague, during the international festival for young talent Young Prague. He performed Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto with the Lithuanian National Orchestra in Dortmund.

With Sinfonia Varsovia, conducted by Augustin Dumay, he played Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos in Brussels together with pianist Avedis Kouyoumdjian.

Nikola has also performed as a soloist in Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto,

Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto, and Beethoven's First and Third Piano Concertos.

At the 2022 Gwyl Machynlleth Festival in Wales, Nikola gave a solo recital after artistic director and pianist Julius Drake heard Nikola play Scriabin's Fourth Sonata in the Great Hall of the Concertgebouw.

In June 2023 he played a concert in Scotland. The Times praised his recital in a five-star review: "Meeuwsen's supple technique drew out the delicacy and beauty of everything he played, and the evanescence of sound in Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin was enormously moving."

Nikola has performed with many leading young talents such as Noa Wildschut, Benjamin Kruithof, SongHa Choi and Alexander Warenberg. He has also performed with his teacher and inspiration, Enrico Pace. Their performance of Liszt's transcription for two pianos of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was one of the highlights of Amare's 2019 Beethoven Festival. Further concerts with Pace are planned in 2026.

From a young age, Nikola has been an exceptional performer. He won the Steinway Competition in 2012 and the Royal Concertgebouw Competition in 2014. He has given solo recitals in various locations in the Netherlands and abroad, including Milan, Bologna, Trieste, Faro, and Imola. Nikola has also been invited to perform at several festivals. The Storioni Festival, the Schiermonnikoog Chamber Music Festival and Classical NOW! are among the events he has participated in.

In 2023, he performed a solo recital and played with the Ragazze Quartet at the St. Magnus Festival in the Orkney Islands. He has performed with many renowned musicians and ensembles including Alexander Kerr, Augustin Dumay,

Corina Belcea,Vladimir Mendelssohn, Nobuko Imai and recently with Janine Jansen at the Sion festival. He has performed as a piano duo with pianists such as Igor Roma and Enrico Pace.

Since 2010 Nikola has been studying with Marlies van Gent and since 2014 with Enrico Pace at the Accademia Pianistica in Imola. Currently Nikola is also a student at the Queen Elisabeth Chapel in Brussels with Frank Braley and Avedis Kouyoumdjian.

At home in The Hague, Nikola practices on a beautiful Bösendorfer grand piano on loan from the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds (NMF).