about

Dutch cellist Karlien Bartels won first prizes at the Prinses Christina Competition, the Young Music Talent Foundation and was admitted at an early age to the 'Facilities for Excellent Young Musicians', a special program for Holland's most talented young musicians financed by the Dutch Government, which enabled her to go abroad, give concerts, and attend masterclasses with renowned cellists such as David Geringas, Alexander Rudin or Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. She was awarded with scholarships from the VSB Foundation, Prins Bernhard Foundation and the prestigious Huygens Grant. 

In Paris she was chosen « lauréat boursier » de la Banque Société Générale and Fondation Meyer, and obtained 3rd and special prize in the « Concours International Flame Paris ». Her career brought her to perform in most European countries, in Japan and the USA. As a soloist she performed most of the well-known concertos by Schumann, Dvorak, Haydn, Vivaldi, Saint-Saëns, Bloch, Lalo and Elgar. She played recitals at the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Reduta concert hall in Bratislava, the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam and performed in most of Paris' major concert halls such as Salle Pleyel, Cité de la Musique, Invalides, Opéra Comique. She was invited at numerous festivals such as Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Festival de Richelieu, the International Chamber Music Festival Schiermonnikoog, Kraków Cello Spring etc. Together with friend and japanese pianist Mami Hagiwara - 1st prize winner of the Geneva Competition - she played many recitals, and toured in Japan. A very avid and passionate chamber musician, Karlien has been a (founding) member of many succesful chamber groups such as the Isis Quartet, the Paris-based Trio Lehmann, as well as the french Ensemble Eria. In 2020 she was asked to join the Gauguin Ensemble together with pianist Loes van Ras and clarinetist Yfynke Hoogeveen.

Very fond of the symphonic repertoire, Karlien plays regularly in several reknown orchestras such as the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National d'Ile de France, and as co-soloist in the National Orchestra of Belgium. She worked with conductors like Llorin Maazel, Herbert Blomstedt, Paavo Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach and Andris Nelsons amongst many others.

Karlien Bartels was born in Groningen, the Netherlands. At the age of twelve she was admitted to the Young Talent Class at the North Netherlands Conservatoire, where she subsequently studied with amongst others Troels Svane. Soon after completing grammar school she moved to Paris to study with Michel Strauss and Guillaume Paoletti at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, and obtained her Master's Degree with a 'Premier Prix'. Chamber music guidance she received from Itamar Golan, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Daria Hovora, Marc Coppey and Alain Meunier. She obtained a Post Graduate Degree as well from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where she perfectioned studies with Prof. Reinhard Latzko. She worked together and had masterclasses with artists such as Ivry Gitlis, Richard Aaron, Roland Pidoux, Xavier Phillips, Gustav Rivinius, Tanja Tetzlaff, Hatto Beyerle, the Juilliard String Quartet... 

Since 2012 she holds a teaching position at the ArtEZ Conservatoire in The Netherlands, and is regularly invited to teach masterclasses in Poland, France and Spain. Karlien Bartels plays a cello by Claude Augustin Miremont (Paris 1882), a kind loan from the 'Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds', Amsterdam.