Conductor

Stefan Hofkes

Stefan Hofkes was born in The Netherlands, where he studied piano and conducting at the Utrecht Conservatoire.  Under his prominent teachers, Alan Weiss and Alexander Warenberg, he concluded his studies with the coveted solo-recital diploma.
He furthered his conducting studies at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, with Christopher Seaman, winning the Ricordi Conducting Prize in 1996.
After his studies Stefan received extensive coaching and support from Bernard Haitink, who invited him for a work-experience period at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
Stefan reached the final of the Tanglewood fellowship auditions, conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall.

At present Stefan combines the Musical Directorship of Reading Symphony Orchestra and Bristol Concert Orchestra with engagements throughout Europe, with orchestras like the Transylvanian State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, The Dutch chamber orchestra Musica Ducis and Maastricht Symphony and most recently at the Amsterdam Beatrix Park Music Festival, conducting Mozart’s opera “The Impresario”.

As conductor and pianist he has collaborated with a wide variety of prominent Dutch and international soloists like David Pyatt, Ashley Wass, Michel Letiec and Vladimir Mendelssohn; and on the lighter front of classical music with Dutch pianist Louis Van Dijk and flautist Thijs Van Leer.

For the past years Stefan has been Artistic Director of the annual “Opera!!” Festival at Beauforthuis in The Netherlands, conducting new productions of Mozart’s Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi FanTutte as well as Cavalleria Rusticana and Hansel und Gretel amongst others, with top international young singers.

As a pianist Stefan has performed in venues like The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall and St. George’s in Bristol.  He performed for Dutch National Radio, most notably for the George Friedrich Handel celebrations, live from London’s Temple Church.  Stefan has made extensive concert tours throughout Europe to as far as the Middle East.
Of his many CD recordings, the disc of Romantic Lieder, together with Mezzo Soprano Jo De Vin, received particular critical acclaim.

Young people have always had a special place in Stefan’s musical activities resulting in him conducting the Englefield Chamber Orchestra in a regular series of family concerts throughout The Netherlands with people like Dutch comedian Ivo De Wijs and TV presenter Dieuwertje Blok, as well as the “Music Live and kicking” series at Beauforthuis of which Stefan was Artistic Director.
For this purpose, working together with well-known Dutch baritone Hans Zomer, he recorded a DVD registration of Schubert’s Winterreise, translated by Dutch school pupils.

Due to these versatile musical activities Stefan has also developed a special relationship with the Royal Netherlands Embassy in London, enabling him to conduct and record major Dutch compositions at prominent concert venues.