Matthias Nauwelaerts – piano (BE)

General information

Matthias Nauwelaerts started his higher studies in Leuven with Jan Vermeulen. His final master recital, played on historical piano Érard from 1840, was dedicated to the Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin. He graduated with the highest distinction for piano as ‘Master in Music’.

Matthias distinguished himself while graduating by receiving the PlayRight Graduation Prize “Most deserving student of the year” at LUCA School of Arts for his remarkable progress during his studies. In 2017 he followed lessons with Boyan Vodenitcharov. Also he went to London and Cologne for having lessons with pianists Christopher Elton and Vassily Lobanov.

Because of his increasing interest in period pianos and authentic performances, he studied fortepiano with Jan Vermeulen. Afterwards he followed in 2018 an intense week of lessons in Radziejowice (Poland) with the renowned fortepianists Kristian Bezuidenhout and Alexei Lubimov, specializing himself in period piano performance.

Recent success came after graduating in September 2018 when he was selected to participate in the ‘1st International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments’ in Warsaw where he played pianos Érard and Pleyel from the 19th century.

Matthias continued his piano and chamber music studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. In January 2019 he performed the Trout Quintet by Franz Schubert with Kahlo String Ensemble in Schubert’s own birth house in Vienna. While in Vienna, he had the opportunity to work with pianist Angela Hewitt to acquire more knowledge for performing works by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Currently he continues his advanced piano studies with Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden and Jan Vermeulen.

Matthias is prizewinner of numerous competitions, including ‘Belfius Classics 2013’ in Brussels, ‘International EPTA competition 2016’ in Grez-Doiceau, ‘Concours Charlier 2017’ in Charleroi, ‘Concours de Piano de Liège 2018’ and ‘Stephan de Jonghe Competition 2018’ in Aalst. He refined his piano playing in various masterclasses and received personal advices from Angela Hewitt, Alexander Bonduriansky, Boris Giltburg, André De Groote, Ewa Kupiec, Alexei Lubimov, Claude Françaix, Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort and Joop Celis, among others.

Matthias played numerous solo and chamber music concerts in European countries such as Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Austria, Poland and has been broadcasted on the Polish National Radio.

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