Daria van den Bercken

Dutch/Russian pianist Daria van den Bercken had the classical music world listening when she launched her project ‘Handel At The Piano’ in 2012, playing the keyboard works by George Frideric Handel and finding a new audience for this music through videos, concerts and alternative stages and platforms.

‘Handel At The Piano’ was well received home and abroad, leading to the prestigious Amsterdam Prize in 2012, concerts worldwide and a release on Sony Classical. Next to her concert engagements, Daria developed the Talk & Play presentation, in which she invites audiences to listen to music and rethink structures. She presents it at universities, companies and stages such as TED – Ideas worth spreading.

Daria played with major Dutch orchestras, such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Shi-Yeon Sung and JoAnn Falletta, The Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra/Christoph Poppen and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra/Jun Märkl. Upcoming debuts include concerts with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Daria finished her studies in Bloomington, Indiana (USA, 2002) with Menahem Pressler and Leonard Hokanson, and at the Amsterdam Conservatory with Mila Baslawskaja and Naum Grubert.

Daria has played recitals in all the major halls of The Netherlands, and is also a regular guest at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. She won the Concertgebouw Vriendenkrans Prize 2005 and the Dutch Classical Talent Award 2006 and 2008. She has performed amongst others at the Virada Cultural Festival in São Paulo, the Delft Chamber Music Festival and the International Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam. Summer 2014 brought performances at the Henley and Petworth Festivals in London as well as Festival Palermo Classica in Sicily.

Embracing the world outside her own field of musical expertise continues to be the inspiration for Daria’s next project, called ‘Keys to Mozart’. The accompanying CD was released by Sony Classical earlier this year.

Daria has been featured in a weekly series about classical music on prime time Dutch national television and is committed to actively reach out to younger audiences.