More about Ben
I have very good memories of the now sold Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (1863), it was a very stable violin. Nowadays I regularly play a violin by Gaspare Lorenzini (1755), which once belonged to the legendary violinist Ossy Renardy. Also, Ben plays on a 1998 modern violin by Tetsuo Matsuda, based on the violins of the eighteenth-century Italian violin maker Guarneri del Gesù.
1981
Conservatory of Amsterdam with Herman Krebbers (final diploma in solo playing). Also received lessons from Louis Sons and Boris Belkin and took a master class with Christian Ferras.
Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and Schumann but also John Lennon and Frank Zappa. And in terms of symphonies, Rachmaninov's Second!
What do I like to listen to?
I chose four works that changed the course of music history such as Beethoven's unsurpassed String Quartet No. 14 (opus 131), Wagner's 'Tristan und Isolde' with the famous, until then unheard of Tristan chord and Stravinsky's revolutionary 'Sacre du Printemps'. And, of course, Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique," written two years after the death of Schubert and three years before the birth of Brahms. It was first performed in 1830 and immediately symbolized the musical avant-garde. Finally, I also enjoy listening to the music of John Lennnon, who managed to innovate on a completely different musical plane, even after his time with the Beatles. These are compositions that still touch me.