How it all started...
Exactly one week before Neil Armstrong made his "small step for man" on the moon, and exactly one month before Woodstock, the world's greatest Rock Festival ever, in a small village near Utrecht, called Odijk, in a house at Drie Jofferengaarde, just across the square where the present Labour leader Wouter Bos was living and celebrating his sixth birthday, a small boy was born: little Bastiaan. Due to dad's business the family - dad, mom and elder sister - moved south, to a small commuters village near Eindhoven: Nuenen, well known because the great painter Vincent van Gogh lived there for a few years and painted his masterpiece the potato eaters. During this early period Harnoncourt's and Leonhardt's performances and recordings of the complete Bach Cantatas was a leitmotiv in young Bas's musical life. These records were played frequently in the Van Hengel residence and would leave an indelible impression on Bas. During the weekly Sunday morning strolls Bas sang the soprano aria öffne dich from Cantata BWV 61 and during a winter sports holiday he wondered where this beautiful melody came from, reffering to the second Kyrie from the b-minor Mass.
Primary school
During primary school, at the Rudolf Steiner School in
Eindhoven, from age 8, Bas got his first cello lessons from Theo Vrijdag. He
gave his first public performance playing Bréval's ineradicable Concertino
in C-Major at a school performance a year later. Unfortunately this evening
programme was crammed so much that during (!) the performance he was asked to skip the
second movement, a request which, evidently, was neglected; just imagine: al these
preparations, and for what..? At home there was a lot of music as well, playing with
family and friends. Although none of the Van Hengels were professional
musicians, everybody played something: violin, recorder, piano, harpsichord, and
there was a lot of singing Around Easter Bas was always to be found with the
score of Bach's St. Matthew's Passion on his lap, but at the same time a whole
different kind of music entered his life, the rockmusic by Queen and Kiss...
Secondary school
In 1980, again due to business,
now both
dad's and mom's, the family moved north a bit, to the city of "Zoete
Lieve Gerritje":
's-Hertogenbosch. Because
Bas liked both his school and his cello teacher there was only one thing to do: travel
up and down to Eindhoven. School stayed the same, but Bas changed cello teacher
after one year. A cellist from Vught, Marijke Overberg, who was cellist and organiser of
the Brabant Chamber Orchestra, took him under her wing. During the busy secondary
school period Bas miraculously found time to join school orchestras in Boxtel and 's
Hertogenbosch ("I Flagioletti") and later the Philips Symfony Orchestra in
Eindhoven. He also took part twice in the projects of the Euregio Youth
Orchestra for Belgium and Brabant. With a group from the Euregio Youth Orchestra Bas formed the WOGEM
Quintett, which gave several performances of Schuberts timeless String Quintett.
His affection for chamber music was stimulated even more by attending youth music camps in Woudschoten (twice) and the Orlando Festival in Kerkrade (also twice). Bas gave many concerts with the Doppler Trio. With this piano trio he explored the trio repertoire playing music by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Beethoven, Chausson, Rachmaninow and Debussy.
The profession...
I
n the meantime it had become clear that the choice
between studying physics or architecture and going to music academy would turn
out in favour of the latter. In 1988 Bas did his entrance exam at the
conservatories of Tilburg and Amsterdam, he was admitted at both and chose to go
to the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. Although Bas preferred to take
lessons from the admired Anner Bijlsma he was admitted to the class of Dmitri
Ferschtman, because Anner Bijlsma had stopped teaching. The study turned out not
to become easy, especially combined with the last year of secondary school in
Zeist. The next year he moved to the Utrecht Conservatory, because he could get
extra lessons from Ferschtman's assistent Maarten Mostert. At the end of the
year Bas joined the Dutch Student's Chamber Orchestra NESKO as first
cellist. In this fruitful project he met harpist and present wife
Kathelijne
Schelfhout. Fortunately after this second preliminary year he was admitted to
the first year and two years later he moved back to the Sweelinck Conservatorium
where he continued his lessons with Dmitri Ferschtman and Maarten Mostert.
And then...
During the studies in Utrecht and Amsterdam the affection for chamber music grew. In the few free hours that were given him (the motto was: study!) Bas formed his first string quartet with students form the Utrecht Conservatorium: the Paesaggio Quartet, and he continued to play with them for several years. Unfortunately the first violinist left for the United States and the quartet was diminished to the Paesaggio Trio. Three years after having been established, the quartet ceased to exist because all members went their own way. In 1995 Bas did his final exam and got his teaching diploma DM in Amsterdam. In the build up to the exam the wish for baroque music grew. After talking to Wouter Möller he decided to continue his studies with him after the exam, to study baroque cello and to specialise in so called Early Music. The seeds that had been sowed by Harnoncourt in his childhood started to come out...
Baroque cello...
To cap it all, that summer his twin daughters Ianthe and Mirte were born. During his baroque cello study Bas could give prominence to his love for Early music. As there were only two cellist on the institute most of the time (the other one being Thomas Pitt) there was plenty of opportunity to play continuo while accompanying students of Lucy van Dael, Alfredo Bernardini, Paul Leenhouts, Bob van Asperen, Friedemann Immer and many others. Bas' greatest wish was fulfilled when, together with Judith Steenbrink and Arwen Bouw, violin, and Simon Muphy, viola, a new "original instruments"- stringquartet was established in 1997. In the Early Music scene the classical string quartet had always been a suppositious child, but in particular the recordings by Quartetto Esterhazy form the late 70's and early 80's had always been inspiring to Bas. Now they had a chance of taking lessons form the former members of Esterhazy: Wouter Möller and Alda Stuurop. The "Belle Van Zuylen Quartett" played many concerts in the following years, until in 2002 the members decided to go their own way and the quartett was terminated. June 1998 Bas finished his baroque cello study playing C.Ph.E. Bach's Cello Concerto in A. That summer his son Merlijn was born.
Earn a bit of money...
After having studied for ten years now it was time to start working! In the small but crowded world that is called Early Music Bas had to find his place. Bit by bit Bas found his way into a growing number of smaller and bigger ensembles. The sheer endless list consists of names like Florilegium Musicum, Concerto '91, La Borea, Les Perruques d'Amsterdam, Ensemble Phoebus Amsterdam, La Stravaganza Köln, Orchestra Van Wassenaer, Concerto Armonico Amsterdam, Das Neue Orchester, Brabants Muzyk Collegie, Anima Eterna, Dom Cantorij Utrecht, Utrechts Barok Consort, Ensemble Lyrique, Netherlands Bach Collegium, La Clementina, Musica ad Rhenum, Il Concerto Barocco, Das Kleine Konzert, Affetti Musicali, Capella di San Pietro, Kwartet André, Il Piacere Armonico, The Northern Consort, Trio Van Bruggen-Van Hengel-Veenhoff, Arte dei Suonatori, Le Parlement de Musique, etc...etc...In all these ensembles Bas played together with, and under the direction of Martin Gester, Hermann Max, Jed Wentz, Hidemi Suzuki, Christoph Spering, Paul McCreesh, Jos van Veldhoven, Ryo Terakado, Alexis Kossenko, Jos van Immerseel, Jaap ter Linden, Simon Schouten, Rachel Podger, Dan Laurin and many, many others.
Competitions
To get anywhere in the musical world competitions are often helpful. Enrolling in a competition isn't always as pleasant as one would wish, and the judgement of the jury not always as impartial, but healthy competition can be a great asset. In 1998 Bas took part in the International Competition Musica Antica in Bruge. He enrolled in two different categories: solo and ensembles, with Quartet André, with clarinettist Nicole van Bruggen, violinist Rachael Beesly and violist Simon Murphy. He won prizes in both categories. Subsequently he took part in the International Competition Van Wassenaer for ensembles in The Hague. With the newly founded Trio Van Bruggen-Van Hengel-Veenhoff, praised for its wonderful ensemble playing and beautiful colouring, he won the third prize of the jury and moreover the prestigious Otto van Wassenaer Public's Prize.