Conductor

Bernhard Touwen is choir- and orkestconductor, teacher on both areas and conductor in residence of Concertkoor Haarlem.

Bernhard Touwen is conductor and artistic director of Concertkoor Haarlem and only the third conductor since the choir was founded in 1946. He holds degrees in Teaching and Performing Musician Classical Piano from Rotterdam Conservatoire with Aquiles Delle Vigne. As a pianist, he accompanies choirs and singers and also performs solo. In 2000, Bernhard Touwen completed his studies in choral conducting cum laude, with singing as a minor. In June 2013, he participated in the international conducting master class led by legendary pedagogue Jorma Panula.

Since then, Touwen has conducted many major works, well-known and less well-known, ancient and modern. His interpretations of both Baroque and Romantic works are widely acclaimed.
In 2015, he founded the International Piano Art Academy with his partner Julia Achkinazy, where they successfully prepare students for the conservatoire.

Touwen is conductor of oratorio choir Con Amore in Leiden, Wijks Vocal and Vocal Ensemble Markant and chamber orchestra Concerto Brabant. From 1 January 2024, as permanent conductor artistic director, he will be associated with the choir and orchestra of Bachcantates Tilburg.

At the invitation of the Heusen Vesting Klassiek foundation, Concerto Brabant performs the Matthäus Passion and a Christmas concert in the Grote Kerk every year. Every year, they perform the Memorial Concert in Den Bosch on 4 May, to which laureates of the International Vocal Competition contribute. They are happy to return as soloists at other concerts by the conductor.

In March 2023, Bernhard Touwen performed the Matthäus Passion in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig with Vocal Ensemble Markant and Concerto Brabant. By invitation, he conducted Verdi’s Requiem twice in Italy in October 2023 in music city Cremona and Crema, concluding the local summer music festivals, in cooperation with an Italian professional choir and orchestra. Several members of Concertkoor Haarlem took part in this. The local press praised it, calling it an experiment worth repeating. This spring, he again led the Messiah day at the Leiden Scratch Days, inspiringly leading an ensemble of 900 singers and musicians through the day and the score in the Pieterskerk.

For more information about our conductor see www.bernhardtouwen.nl