Nikola Meeuwsen (2002) has already established a remarkably mature international career as a pianist of the younger generation.
In 2023, he played Grieg's Piano Concerto with the Northern Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at the famous Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum in Prague. On 19 January 2024, he made his solo debut at the Royal Concertgebouw with works by Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann. That same year, he played Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto with the Lithuanian National Orchestra in Dortmund. In Brussels, he joined forces with pianist Avedis Kouyoumdjian and Sinfonia Varsovia under Augustin Dumay for Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos. In January 2025, he performed for the third time as soloist with the Residentie Orkest in The Hague with Chopin's First Piano Concerto. In February 2025, he performed Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto with the National Orchestra of Belgium. In the semi-final of the Elisabeth Competition 2025, he played, together with the Orchestre Royale de Chambre de Wallonie, Mozart's Concerto No 9 (Jeunehomme) and in the final Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto with the Brussels Philharmonic. He has given several concerts with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. Nikola's concert repertoire also includes (among others) Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto and Beethoven's First and Third Piano Concertos.
Nikola's exceptional talent was recognised early on. He won the Steinway Competition at the age of nine in 2012 and the Royal Concertgebouw Competition in 2014. At the age of 20, Nikola became the youngest musician ever to receive the Grachtenfestival Prize, and in 2023 he was artist in residence at this Amsterdam festival. In 2019, he received the Concertgebouw Young Talent Award. In 2025, as the youngest finalist (aged 23), he won the Queen Elisabeth Competition and received the Queen Elisabeth Grand International Prize, First Prize, Queen Mathilde Prize, from Queen Mathilde.
Nikola is a welcome guest at festivals such as the Storioni Festival, Chamber Music Festival Schiermonnikoog and Classical NOW! and the St. Magnus Festival. He has played in concert halls across Europe and makes recordings for radio stations such as Bayerischer Rundfunk. His debut album will be released on the Channel Classics label in 2025. He has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Alexander Kerr, Augustin Dumay, Corina Belcea, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Nobuko Imai, and most recently with Janine
Jansen at the Sion Festival and the Utrecht International Chamber Music Festival. Nikola regularly collaborates with leading young musicians such as Noa Wildschut, Benjamin Kruithof, SongHa Choi, Leonhard Baumgartner and Alexander Warenberg. He also performs with his teacher and mentor Enrico Pace and with pianist Denis Kozhukhin.
His concert in Scotland in June 2023 received a five-star review from The Times: ‘Meeuwsen's suave technique tapped right into the delicacy and beauty of everything he played, and the evanescent seemliness of the sound in Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin was enormously moving.’
Nikola has been studying with Marlies van Gent since 2010 and with Enrico Pace at the Accademia Pianistica in Imola since 2014. He is also currently studying at the Queen Elisabeth Chapel in Brussels with Frank Braley and Avedis Kouyoumdjian.
At home in The Hague, Nikola studies on a Bösendorfer grand piano, loaned to him by the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds (NMF).
Photo: Melle Meivogel