Maria Milstein

Violinist Maria Milstein was born in Moscow but grew up in France. She studied with Ilya Grubert in Amsterdam and David Takeno in London and was ‘Artist in Residence’ at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel between 2011 and 2014, where she studied with Augustin Dumay.

Maria is a prize winner of international competitions such as ‘Città di Brescia’ and ‘Premio Rodolfo Lipizer’ in Italy , laureate of the Kersjes Prize in the Netherlands (as soloist and with her Van Baerle Trio) and received a Fellowship from the Bor-letti Buitoni Trust in 2016. In January 2018, Maria received the Dutch Music Prize, the highest award for a classical musician in the Netherlands. Maria performs solo with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Residentie Orkest, the National Orchestra of Belgium , the Essener Philharmoniker and Amsterdam Sinfo-nietta, among others, and has worked with conductors such as Vasily Petrenko, Otto Tausk, Tomas Netopil, Reinbert de Leeuw, Duncan Ward, Ed Spanjaard and Daniele Rustioni. In 2021/22, Maria was Artist in Residence at the AVROTROS Vrijdagconcert. Maria’s debut CD Sounds of War together with pianist Hanna Shybayeva received rave reviews at home and abroad and was awarded an Edison Klassiek. With her sister Nathalia Milstein, Maria released the album ‘La Sonate de Vinteuil’ on the French label Mirare in 2017. This CD was also acclaimed by the international press and was voted best CD of the year in all categories by the Volkskrant. Their most recent CD “Ravel Voyageur” was awarded the prestigious Diapason d’Or. Soon, Maria will record both of Prokociev’s violin concertos together with the Phion orchestra and conductor Otto Tausk.

Besides her solo career, Maria is part of the Van Baerle Trio, with pianist Hannes Minnaar and cellist Gideon den Herder. The trio has won major competitions such as the ARD Competition in Mü nchen and the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition, and has released Beethoven’s complete works for piano trio on Challenge Records.

Together with violinist Mathieu van Bellen, Maria founded MuziekHaven, a chamber music centre in a historic wooden barn church in Zaandam – a place that offers “residencies” to chamber music groups, also or-ises educational projects and acts as a recording studio for small ensembles.

Maria is a principal study teacher at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. She plays a violin by Michel Angelo Bergonzi, the “ex- Herman Krebbers”, on loan from the National Musical Instruments Fund.