Niek Baar (1991) started to play the violin at the age of 8. Five years later he was admitted to the young talent class of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he was taught by Mireille van der Wart. In 2012 Niek received his Bachelor Diploma ‘cum laude’ from the same school, where he then studied with Philippe Graffin and Peter Brunt. In July 2016 Niek finished his Master studies at the “Hanns Eisler” Conservatory in Berlin with the highest possible score. Niek studied at this school with Prof. Stephan Picard. Niek is a prize winner of several national and international competitions like the’International Solo Bach Competition’ in London, where he received the First Prize. In July 2014 Niek won the third prize during the famous International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig. Also in his home country Niek won several prizes during the National Violin Competition ‘Davina van Wely’ and the Princes Christina Competition. In December 2015 Niek received the “Kersjesprijs”, a prize given to young talented string players worth of 15.000 euro. And most recent in May 2017 Niek won the ‘Manfred Grommek Förderpreis’ at the Kronberg Music Festival in Germany.

As a soloist, Niek played with several orchestras: when he was 16 he made his solo debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in the main hall of concert building, ‘de Doelen’ in Rotterdam. He has also performed with the Atheneum Chamber Orchestra, Berliner Camerata, Pauliner Kammerorchester Leipzig and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra of The Hague. In March 2013 he made his debut in de Concertgebouw with Sinfonia Rotterdam and conductor Conrad van Alphen and in January 2016 Niek made his solo debut in the Berliner Philarmonie with the Berliner Camerata. In 17/18 Niek will perform with Nobuko Imai in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and will give recitals with Ben Kim in Konzerthaus Berlin, Gasteig Munich, Oriental Centre Shanghai where Niek and Ben will give the Chinese Premier of the third violin sonata by Robert Schumann.