Mathieu van Bellen

Mathieu van Bellen (born in March 29, 1988 in Hulst) is a Dutch violinist.
Van Bellen started playing the violin at the age of four. During the first year he was taught by Mrs. Schepman and he continued with Prof. Nico Baltussen in Sint-Niklaas (Belgium). In 2000-2002 he studied at the Conservatory in Amsterdam. A scholarship of the VandenEnde Foundation in Amsterdam made it possible for him tot continue his studie in England: between 2002 - 2006 he studied at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester with Professor Jan Repko, and since September 2006 he studies at the Royal College of Music in London with Professor Itzhak Rashkovsky.
While at Chethams, Mathieu had the chance to really develop chamber music, he played in many chamber music groups and in 2005 and 2006 he performed with his string quintet and string quartet in festivals such as the Brahms/Schumann festival and the Shostakovich festival in Manchester. Last summer he was a member of the first violins in the European Union Youth Orchestra.
String Player of the Year 2008 at the Royal College of Music, London, he was also a finalist in national as well as international violin competitions, such as The Wieniawski Competition in Lublin (Poland), and the National Violin Competition of Holland. He was also a Special Prize winner for Outstanding Performance in Senior Semi-Finals in the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists. He gave concerts in Netherlands, Belgium, England, Poland, USA, Denmark, Japan, France, and Belarus. As a soloist he performed in Lalo's Symphony Espagnole with the Brabants Orkest (2004), and in Shostakovich's 1st violin Concerto with the Gelders Orkest (2006), and he was invited to perform Wieniawski's 2nd violin concerto with symphony orchestra in Brest, Belarus. He gave his Concertgebouw Debut at age 19, playing Mozart Violin Concerto no. 5 and Ravel Tzigane with Holland Symfonia and Jan Willem de Vriend.
Mathieu had masterclasses with distinguished artists such as Maxim Vengerov (broadcast on television), Herman Krebbers, David Finckel, Tuomas Haapanen, Simon Fontanelli, Gordon Back, Sibbi Bernhardsson, Lewis Kaplan, Tomas Riebl, Bruno Schrecker, Graham Oppenheimer, Nicholas Jones, Henning Kraggerud, Gyorgy Pauk, Mark Knight and Yair Kless, and collaborated in a concerts with Matthew Trusler, Graham Oppenheimer and Craig Ogden, Evgenia-Maria Popova, and Shlomo Mintz.
Currently Mathieu uses a violin made by Alessandro Gagliano (1710, Napoli).
Education
*1992-1993 Private lessons with Nineke Schepman
*1993-2000 First private lessons with Nico Baltussen, then continued lessons with him at "de Stedelijke Academie voor Muziek, Woord en Dans"
*2000-2002 with Jan Repko at Conservatorium van Amsterdam
*2002-2006 with Jan Repko at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester (UK)
*2006-present with Itzhak Rashkovsky at Royal College of Music London
Prizes
*1997 Jong Tenuto in Belgium Laureate
*2001 3rd Prizewinner in The Iordens Viooldagen
*2001 Winner of Competition for Duos "De Vereniging vrienden van het Zeeuws Orkest"
*2002 Winner of the Prinses Christina Competition in Holland (Equivalent of Young Musician of the Year in UK)
*2002 Full Scholarship from de VandenEnde Foundation in Holland for 4 years
*2003 Wieniawski Competition Finalist
*2004 2nd Prizewinner Van Wely Concours in Holland
*2004 Concerto Competition Winner of Chetham's School of Music
*2006 Special Prize for Outstanding Performance in Senior Semi-Finals Yehudi Menuhin Competition
*2007 2nd Prize Winner in National Violin Competition of Holland
*2008 Emily Anderson Prize of the Royal Philharmonic Society

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