Naaman Sluchin & Piet Kuijken
Biography Naaman Sluchin & Piet Kuijken
Naaman Sluchin
Music runs in the Sluchin family and Naaman quite naturally chose to devote himself to the violin. His studies and artistic career have been guided by a passion for novelty and eclecticism: his technique owes to the Russian school, the American school (through his training at Bloomington and at the Julliard School) as well as to the famous Franco-Belgian school that followed Eugène Ysaye’s teaching. He is also a graduate of Basel’s Schola Cantorum in baroque violin.
For seven years he was a member of the Diotima quartet, performed around the world in prestigious halls and festivals, and recorded award-winning CDs, including Musique américaine (Reich, Crumb, and Barber) and Quatuors de Janáček (Diapasons d'Or de l'année, Choc de Classica). For five years, Naaman also performed in Haim, à la lumière d'un violon, sharing the stage with actors Anouk Grinberg, Natacha Régnier and Mélanie Doutey at the salle Gaveau, and on French and European tours.
Naaman’s repertoire keeps evolving thanks to his involvement with different chamber music groups, such as the Ensemble Talisma with Piet Kuijken et Amy Norrington and the Kitgut Quartet, a period instrument string quartet in which he plays with Amandine Beyer. He is also solo violinist for Emmanuel Krivine’s Chambre Philharmonique orchestra, performs with the Cairn ensemble, and plays alongside Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Rosas dance company in a show entitled Achterland and choreographed around Ysaye’s violin sonatas.
Piet Kuijken
is a student of Jan Vermeulen; he studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels under Jan Michiels, Arie van Lysebeth and André De Groote. He graduated with the highest honours from the piano and chamber music classes. In 1994, he received the CERA ‘Youth and Music' award, beginning an eminent career.
Having received a BAEF scholarship, he continued his studies at the University of Indiana with Menahem Pressler, pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio (2000/01). He obtained a diploma at this university, and has participated in numerous masterclasses, including with Leonard Hokanson, Edward Auer, Victor Rosenbaum, Paul Crossley, and Jean-Philippe Collard. He has cooperated with the renowned New Music Ensemble, and won the Schumann Concerto Competition.
He has appeared at solo recitals, played with chamber ensembles and orchestras under the baton of conductors such as Avim Ostrovski, Zeeve Dorman, Robert Groslot, Norbet Nozy, Etienne Siebens, Silveer van den Broeck, Robert Casteels and Wieland Kuijken. He has performed in many European countries, as well as Japan and the United States. His wide repertoire spans from the Baroque to modern music; he performs on the harpsichord, pianos of various historical periods, and on modern instruments. He has participated in the Flanders Music Festival, the Chopin festivals of Ghent and Mariánské Lázně (Czech Republic), Ars Musica, De Nacht van Radio 3, Juventus, Fêtes Musicales de Savoie, Musicales Internationales Guil-Durance, Bach en Bauges, Bach en Combrailles, Berliner Tage für Alte Musik, Musica Antica in Magnano, and Organi Antichi in Bologna.
Since 1988, he has been linked with the Prometheus Ensemble, and has appeared in duos with pianist Bart Meynckens, clarinettist Henk Soen, cellist Karel Steylaerts, and his father Wieland Kuijken. He has also on numerous occasions played with the Oxalys, Ictus and Ensor ensembles, as well as Anne Cambier, Olga Pasiecznik, soloists of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, and the Cinque Venti ensemble.
His discography includes works by Luc van Hove which he recorded with the Prometheus Ensemble (René Gailly), the chamber works of Debussy recorded with the Kuijken family for the Arcana label (this CD was awarded the Prix Choc 2000 from Le Monde de la Musique magazine), as well as the complete viola da gamba sonatas of Johann Sebastian Bach (with Wieland Kuijken). With Karel Steylaerts, he recorded the complete cello and piano works of Joseph Jongen for the Phaedra label (In Flanders Fields).
