Pieter-Jan Belder

Multi-instrumentalist Pieter-Jan Belder conducts his Musica Amphion ensemble from the keyboard. He is also active as a soloist, playing harpsichord, fortepiano, organ, clavichord, and recorder. Belder was born on January 19, 1966, in Capelle aan den IJssel in the southern Netherlands. From the start, he pursued several instruments, studying recording at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Ricardo Kanji and harpsichord with Bob van Asperen at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. He graduated from both institutions in 1990. Belder founded the chamber group Musica Amphion in 1993 and since then has divided his time between that group, his solo career, and teaching at the Sweelinck Conservatory, whose faculty he joined in 1990. In 1994, he made his recording debut, appearing on recorder under Kanjii's baton on the album Georg Philipp Telemann: Baroque Orchestra Concerto '91. Belder won prizes at the NDR Harpsichord Competition in Hamburg in 1997, and the Leipzig Bach Harpsichord Competition in 2000, and those wins helped open up performing opportunities; soon, he was appearing as a continuo player with such groups as the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, the Collegium Vocale Gent, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. Belder has been in demand at summer events such as the Leipzig Bach Festival and the Festival de Música Antiga in Barcelona. He has appeared frequently on television and radio broadcasts in Germany and the Netherlands. Belder is perhaps most familiar through his participation, both as a soloist and with Musica Amphion, in large collections issued by the budget label Brilliant in the Netherlands. He recorded the complete Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, a group of more than 300 pieces, for Brilliant between 2010 and 2013, and also issued multiple-disc series devoted to Bach, Domenico Scarlatti (all 555 keyboard sonatas), Antonio Soler, and more. With Musica Amphion, he released a complete recording of Telemann's large Tafelmusik chamber music collection. In 2019, he recorded Bach's The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, for Brilliant. In 2023, he issued a recording of William Byrd's My Lady Nevells Booke on that label; by that time, his recording catalog included well over 200 items. ~ James Manheim, Rovi