Performers

Pieter-Jan Belder, harpichord

Pieter-Jan Belder studied harpsichord and recorder at the conservatories of Amsterdam and The Hague. In 1990 he obtained the diploma Performing Musician for both instruments. Since then he has performed frequently at home and abroad as a harpsichordist, fortepianist, continuo player and recorder player. He has played at international early music festivals in Berlin, Leipzig, Barcelona, Flanders, Potsdam-Sans Souci, Nizhny Novgorod and Utrecht, among others. From 1989 he was a permanent employee of the Radio Chamber Orchestra, where he worked with Frans Brüggen, Ton Koopman, Roy Goodman, Masaaki Suzuki, Kenneth Montgomery and Philippe Herreweghe, among others. He is also active as a continuo player in various ensembles, including the Netherlands Bach Society, Collegium Vocale Gent, the Gesualdo Consort, Camarata Trajectina, the Orchestra of the 18th Century and his own ensemble Musica Amphion. He also accompanied soloists such as Johannette Zomer, Peter Kooij, Rémy Baudet, Nico van der Meel, Sigiswald Kuyken, Harry van der Kamp, Wilbert Hazelzet and Saskia Coolen. Since 1991, Belder has made more than 180 CD recordings, bringing him international recognition and fame as a harpsichordist. He contributed to a complete edition of all Bach harpsichord works (13 CDs). These successful recordings were followed by a recording with the complete harpsichord oeuvre of Domenico Scarlatti (36 CDs), keyboard works by Soler (8 CDs) and Rameau (3 CDs).

Josh Cheatham, viola da gamba

From the treble viol to the “violedegamboes of extraordinarie greatnesse” Joshua Cheatham, whether in the viol consort literature, works for solo viola da gamba of Marais, Forqueray and Bach, or orchestral double bass playing, is a frequent performer with early music ensembles and at festivals and concert halls throughout Western Europe. He studied the viola da gamba with Wieland Kuijken and Anneke Pols, and the violone with Maggie Urquhart in Holland, after completing his double bass studies with Edgar Meyer at Vanderbilt University.

He was awarded a Masters Diploma from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 2003, and now teaches viola da gamba at the Utrecht Conservatory. He is the recipient of the 2006 Capriccio Stravagante Prize, founded in 1998 by Skip Sempé, to recognize and support exceptional individuality and talent in the fields of Renaissance and Baroque music. He can also be heard in performances with numerous ensembles including Ensemble Pygmalion, Ensemble Masques, Vox Luminis, Hathor Consort, Musicall Humours, the Puncke’s Delight, het Orkest van de 18de eeuw, Musica Temprana, de Nederlandse Bachvereniging. His feature recordings for the Paradizo label include a 2008 release of selections from Pieces de viole of Marin Marais and Sainte-Colombe, with Julien Leonard and Skip Sempé, and on “Antico/Moderno”, an anthology of Renaissance diminutions.

David van Ooijen,lute

David van Ooijen plays solo music and accompanies singers on various lutes, historical guitars and shamisen.He also plays continuo in several early music groups and orchestras. He appeared in the festivals of Utrecht, Flanders, Wratislawa, Osnabrück, Dubrovnik, Melk, Cambrils, Seviqc Brezice, Gijón, Berlin, Tehran and Nagasaki. He recorded some 30 CDs and in 1991 BBC radio made solo recordings of him. In 1998 he won an early music prize in Holland and in 2000 and 2009 he was invited to spend a month in Hirado, Japan, as artist in residence. In 2004 and 2005 CDs with altus Sytse Buwalda reached the number one spot in the classical charts of the Dutch national radio and David’s CD with fellow lutenist Michiel Niessen, featuring the first recording of the complete lute duets of sixteenth century lute virtuoso Giovanni Antonio Terzi, received a raving review in the prestigious Early Music Magazine. In 2007 David played during the baptism service of Princess Ariane, daughter of the Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander and his wife Máxima. In 2011 and 2012 he played concerts with lutenist Toyohiko Satoh in Spain and Japan. In 2016 David played concerts together with Chinese musicians in Chongqing, China, combining European Baroque music composed in China with traditional Chinese music.

Iris Bouman,mezzo soprano

After completing a bachelor and research master in Musicology at the universities of Utrecht, Berlin, and Salzburg, alto/mezzo soprano Iris Bouman studied a bachelor Classical Voice at the Utrecht Conservatory. She completed the Master Historical Voice with Xenia Meijer at the Conservatory of Amsterdam in 2023 with honours. She followed masterclasses with Dame Emma Kirkby, Peter Kooij, Anders J. Dahlin, Alexander Oliver and Sir John Elliott Gardiner. In 2022 she was selected as one out of five young singers world-wide for the Confidencen Opera & Music Festival’s Young Artist’s Programme. Iris regularly sings with the Amsterdam Baroque Choir, led by Ton Koopman, and with the Netherlands Bach Society (Nederlandse Bachvereniging). She’s also part of The Hague baroque ensemble Musica Poetica, led by Jörn Boysen, with whom she regularly performs at the Royal Theatre of The Hague. In the summer of 2023, Iris was part of Holland Opera’s big project “De Kersentuin”. She’s also the singer of Ensemble Suspirium, an exciting young ensemble that performs lesser known works from the Baroque period.

Alice Sheu,harpsichord、Organ

Alice Shu-Yao Sheu is a Taiwanese-American harpsichordist, historical organist, and pianist. Currently based in the Netherlands, she earned a Masters degree in harpsichord performance (2021) at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag with Siebe Henstra while also taking organ lessons with Reitze Smits at HKU Utrecht Conservatorium. She is the director and curator of Fitzwilliam Festival Taiwan (January 2023), the first harpsichord festival on the island. Dr. Sheu is known for her work with various historical keyboards from the 16th to 18th century. She has performed on the historical 1747 Dulcken Museum Vleeshuis in Antwerp and is invited to perform on the anonymous historical harpsichord from 1540 at the National Musical Instrument Museum, South Dakota. She regularly works with the instrument building program at KASK Gent, performing on various different copies of historical keyboards built by the student builders. An avid researcher, she has given a lecture-presentation at the Orpheus Institute Gent on the subject of playing from Italian Partitura. Organ concerts include Oosthuizen, Netherlands, Ping-Tung Performance Hall, and National Concert Hall Taipei. Dr. Sheu has also performed with Het Nederlands Bach consort, violinist Lisa Jacobs, American Bach Soloist Academy orchestra, and in Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht. Dr. Sheu also holds a masters degree in piano performance from Longy School of Music (USA) and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago.

Chun-Yuan Yang,viola da gamba 

Chun-Yuan is a Taiwanese historical Double bass, Lirone and Viola da gamba player based in Amsterdam, specializing in various tuning of historical bass instruments. Chun-Yuan regularly performs with Gleam Ensemble Taiwan. In 2022, He was Invited by Sigiswald Kuijken to participate in the “La Petite Bande” on the 50 year anniversary production which premiered in Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He also performed with various Dutch early music groups including Luthers Bach Ensemble, Castello Consort and Ensemble Fantasticus, the latter with which he recorded a CD of Buxtehude’s “manuscript” sonatas. Chun-Yuan studied Modern double bass at the New England Conservatory, Boston. He studied Violone with Maggie Urquhart at Conservatorium van Amsterdam and earned a marking of 10 Cum laude in his final exam.

Yi-Chang Liang,recorder

Yi-Chang Liang is the 2011 award winner of the prestigious International Moeck/SRP Competition in London. In 2014, Liang founded the ensemble IJ SPACE with harpsichordist, Machiko Suto, in Amsterdam. In 2018, the ensemble was awarded the First Prize at the 19th edition of Biagio Marini Competition for chamber music in Germany, and the Third Prize at the International Van Wassenaer Competition in the Netherlands. In 2020, they released their first album, “Francesco Mancini: Six Recorder Sonatas”, with the Swiss label Claves Records. Liang joined The Royal Wind Music from 2012 to 2016 and performed at MAfestival in Belgium, Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca in Spain, Grachtenfestival in the Netherlands, Schwelm Recorder Summit in Germany, ORDA Open Recorder Days Amsterdam, and the Boston Early Music Festival. In 2023, his solo album “Jacob van Eyck: Der Fluyten Lust-Hof (Selected Works)” was released by Sony Music Entertainment Taiwan Ltd.

Shio Oshita,baroque violin

Shio Ohshita is a historical violinist who has lived in Germany for many years, the artistic director of The Gleam Ensemble Taiwan, won the first prize of the 18th Biagio Marini International Chamber Music Competition in Germany in 2018. Shio was born in Hiroshima (Japan). She came to Germany in 2010 and studied modern violin at the Karlsruhe University of Music. From 2013 to 2015 she studied baroque violin at the Freiburg University of Music with Prof. Gottfried von der Goltz and from 2015 to 2017 at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Prof. Leila Schayegh, in the same time she studied medieval fiddle with Randal Cook.She has played with various professional ensembles such as the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra etc. and as concertmaster in the Baroque Orchestra Compagnia di Punto. Her performances were recorded by SWR, the WDR and CDs. Shio regularly gives lectures for baroque violin at universities such as Taipei National University of Arts, Taiwan National Normal University etc. From September 2022, she is the teacher of chamber music and baroque interpretation in National Tsing-Hua University.

Andrew Wong,baroque violin

Andrew Wong first discovered the wonders of historically informed performance through a period instrument recording of Haydn’s String Quartets. He quickly embarked on an expedition to rediscover the violin, learning from violinists such as Marc Destrubé and David Wilson and studying at the Oregon Bach Festival’s Berwick Academy and the American Bach Soloists Academy, as well than at the Tafelmusik Winter Institute. In 2019 he moved to The Hague, Netherlands to deepen his knowledge and immerse himself in the diversity of playing styles, learning from Enrico Gatti, Antoinette Lohmann, Ryo Terakado and Kati Debretzeni while studying at the Royal Conservatory. He was selected for the 2019 Britten Pears Young Artists Program with Philippe Herreweghe, the 2020 Enlightenment Orchestra Experience Program, the 2020 Fondazione Giorgio Cini Seminar on Caldara Trio Sonatas with Amandine Beyer and the Lully opera project of the Akademie Versailles 2020, where he was concertmaster under the direction of Alexis Kossenko. He has performed with ensembles such as the American Bach Soloists, Nederlandse Bachvereniging and Vox Luminis (Purcell’s King Arthur, All of Bach), and Le Concert d’Apollon (Utrecht Early Music Festival) in the Netherlands. Andrew has degrees in physics and engineering from MIT and Stanford. He has worked professionally as a data visualization designer, specializing in making maps and building tools to understand complex data. He is currently interested in applying information design to early music research.

Wei Wang,historical percussionist

Wei Wang is the historical percussionist of The Gleam Ensemble, percussionist of Taipei Percussion Ensemble. Currently based in Taiwan. Wei Wang is a percussionist who specializes in several styles of music. After getting his bachelor diplome of music from National Taiwan University of Arts, he went to France to continue his music studies in one of the most prestigious conservatory, Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur Musique de Lyon, major in classical music and contemporary music with Prof. Jean Geoffroy. For enriching musical thoughts, he also has been studying framedrum and world music with the well-known masters like Andrea Piccioni and Yshai Afterman since 2020.