Nikola Meeuwsen speelt Rachmaninoffs Pianoconcert nr. 2

Nikola Meeuwsen

In the 2025-2026 season, Nikola Meeuwsen was a guest on Het Zondagochtend Concert twice. By his own account, he feels very much at home in the Concertgebouw. The fact that not only we, but also the jury of the world's most important piano competition, consider him a phenomenal pianist became apparent when, in June 2025, he became the first Dutchman ever to win the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition for piano. The international jury praised his 'poetic and sensitive playing, his technical genius combined with deep musicality' and called his musical thinking 'crystal clear'.

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2

Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto was perhaps the comeback of the twentieth century. After the dramatic reviews of his First Symphony, Serge Rachmaninoff could not put a single note on paper. He fell into a severe personal crisis and suffered from a long-lasting writer's block. After an intensive course of hypno- and psychotherapy, Rachmaninoff wrote the Second Piano Concerto , his best work to date. From the bells in the opening chords, the broad, triumphant melodies of the strings, to the overwhelming orchestral tutti and the mightily virtuos virtuos piano part; this is a masterpiece. And that is not even mentioning that bittersweet second movement, of unearthly beauty. It has been quoted by Frank Sinatra to Muse, and the list of films in which it appears is too long to mention.