The Dutch/American pianist Shane van Neerden has a fast growing career as soloist, in chamber music settings, and as soloist with orchestra. He has played live in concert halls throughout Germany, the Netherlands, England, Italy, Portugal, Austria, France, and in the United States as well as for public radio in the U.S., Portugal (Antena 2), and in the Netherlands (Radio 4, NTR, and on the television program Podium Witteman).

 

In May 2024, Shane won the Dutch Classical Talent Award which concluded a process including a tour of fourteen concerts in the most important Dutch classical music stages (Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, Musis Sacrum Arnhem, Philharmonie Haarlem, Theater aan het Vrijthof Maastricht, TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, De Vereeniging Nijmegen, etc.). For the competition, he developed the performance Lantaarns, including a newly commissioned work for composer Rick van Veldhuizen. During the finale of the competition in TivoliVredenburg, the jury praised his rich musical wealth, courage, and imagination. According to NRC reviewer Marnix Bilderbeek, his velvet touch, sensitive phrasing, and warm color palette made him a deserved winner.

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Highlights from Van Neerden’s 2023-2024 season include a solo CD recording with the radio and television broadcaster AVROTROS, his solo recital début in the Small Hall of Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and the debut performance of the Toonzetters Ensemble, a modern music collective coached and supported by Oranjewoud Festival. In 2025, Shane will make his début as soloist with the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra during Het Zondagochtendconcert in the Big Hall of Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

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In 2022/2023, Shane was one of the four musicians in Toonzetters, the project out of which the current ensemble emerged, where he played, together with pianist Ramon van Engelenhoven and percussionists Arjan Jongsma and Agostinho Sequeira, 20 new pieces by 20 young composers (a.o. Mathilde Wantenaar, Jan-Peter de Graaf, Celia Swart, and Rick van Veldhuizen) in a tour throughout the Netherlands and Italy. A CD for this project was released by the label 7 Mountain Records.

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Shane began piano lessons when he was six years old and has studied with celebrated pianists Jacques Rouvier, Robert Levin, Heinrich Schenk, Sasha Starcevich, Peter Takács, en Susan Starr. Shane has also had private lessons with the French-Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin and Portuguease percussionist and conductor Pedro Carneiro. Following private lessons with Carl Cranmer, he began a bachelor degree at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Frank Peters. As a first-year student, he played Franz Liszt’s Totentanz with the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under the direction of Ed Spanjaard and completed his studies in 2022 with 10 cum laude. Shane studied in 2021 at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy with Eliso Virsaladze while starting his masters degree at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. He is currently completed his studies in Amsterdam with Frank Peters while beginning private lessons with Marc-André Hamelin.

Shane lives in Amsterdam and has a grand piano at his home thanks to the Nationale Muziekinstrumenten Fonds.