MILSTEIN-TAVENIER-VIERSEN STRING TRIO
In their first season as a string trio, audiences were already able to hear them perform in prestigious venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Muziekgebouw in Eindhoven and the Edesche Concertzaal.
Maria Milstein
Maria Milstein was born in Moscow into a family of musicians. She studied in Amsterdam with Ilya Grubert, in London with David Takeno, and at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo (Belgium) with Augustin Dumay.
Maria is a prize winner of various major international competitions, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. In 2016, Maria received a Fellowship from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, and in 2018 she was awarded the Dutch Music Prize, the most prestigious Dutch state prize for classical music. Together with pianist Hannes Minnaar and cellist Gideon den Herder, Maria forms the Van Baerle Trio, which has enjoyed success both in the Netherlands and abroad.
Together with violinist (and husband) Mathieu van Bellen, Maria founded the chamber music center “MuziekHaven,” located in a historic wooden (hidden) church in Zaandam, a venue that offers residencies to chamber music groups, hosts educational projects, and serves as a recording location for small ensembles.
Elisa-Karen Tavenier
At the age of six, Elisa Karen was admitted to the School for Young Talent at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where she studied violin with Coosje Wijzenbeek. She continued her studies on the viola with Mikhail Zemtsov and earned her bachelor’s degree in 2018 with a grade of 10 with honors. In 2022, she completed her master’s degree under Nils Mönkemeyer at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, also with the highest distinction. Since its founding in 2014, Elisa Karen has been a member of the successful Animato Quartet. In 2017, this string quartet received a grant from the Anton Kersjes Fund; in 2023, the quartet was awarded the Anton Kersjes Prize, worth €50,000, given to young classical chamber music talent
Quirine Viersen, cello
Quirine is internationally recognized as one of the most prominent musical figures of her generation. With her intense, expressive, and virtuosic cello playing, she consistently succeeds in convincing colleagues, the press, and audiences of her great musicality and mastery. During her performances, it is essential for Quirine to convey her emotions to the audience; she wants, as it were, to experience the music together with them and to “touch” them from the heart with her playing.
She regularly performs with pianists such as Enrico Pace and Thomas Beijer and is a much-sought-after chamber musician abroad. Quirine has won prizes at various international competitions, such as the Rostropovich Competition in Paris (1990), the International Cello Competition in Helsinki (1991), and the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1994).
In 1994, Quirine received the most prestigious state award for classical music, the Dutch Music Prize.
