Niek Baar & Ben Kim

Niek Baar

Niek Baar started playing the violin at the age of eight. Five years later he entered the Conservatory of The Hague in the class of Mireille van der Wart. In 2012 he obtained his Bachelor degree "cum laude", his teachers being Philippe Graffin and Peter Brunt. In July 2016, he finished his Master's degree at the "Hanns Eisler" University in Berlin with professor Stephan Picard. Since then, he continues to study privately with Christoph Poppen.

Niek Baar has won numerous prizes. These include a 1st prize at the International Solo Bach Competition in London and a 3rd prize at the Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig in 2014. In January 2022, he recorded his first album, "Obsession", with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. The program includes works by Tartini, Kreisler, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Ravel.

Niek Baar is very happy to play an exceptional violin, designed in Cremona in 1729 by Carlo Bergonzi and entrusted to him by the Tjardus Greidanus Foundation in Amsterdam.

Ben Kim

Born in Portland, Oregon, Ben Kim gave his first solo performances at the age of eight. He graduated from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore as a pianist with Leon Fleisher and Yong Hi Moon, and completed his studies with Klaus Hellwig in Berlin, where he still resides.

He has received numerous awards, including the 1st prize at the ARD competition in Munich which launched his career in 2006. His recording of Chopin's Preludes and Impromptus for Decca was selected as an "Editor's Choice" by the Japanese reference magazine Record Geijutsu in 2012. Since then, he has released various recordings devoted to Mozart, Debussy and Schumann on Sony Classical. More recently, he has released some of Mozart's Piano Concertos with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. A second album of Mozart Concertos will be released in 2023.