Jong Klassiek @ West met Maaike Hupperetz en Young Jae Kim

De Nederlandse sopraan Maaike Hupperetz startte in 2011 aan de vooropleiding van het conservatorium in Maastricht. In 2013 werd ze aangenomen voor de vakopleiding aan het conservatorium van Tilburg, waarbij ze studeerde bij Xenia Meijer.

Een jaar later veranderde ze naar de richting ‘Muziektheater Klassiek’. Hier studeerde ze in 2017 cum laude af met haar eigen solovoorstelling ‘The Diva’, geregisseerd door Alexandra van Marken.

Sinds 2016 wordt Maaike gecoacht door Helen en Klaus Donath. Met hen gaf ze concerten in o.a. Salzburg en Zürich.

In maart 2018 was ze solist in de opera ‘Aorta’ tijdens het Opera Forward Festival. In september 2018 startte ze aan haar masteropleiding aan het conservatorium van Amsterdam, waar ze studeerde bij Don Marrazzo en Nathalie Doucet. Sinds 2020 wordt Maaike gecoacht door Sasja Hunnego en Gerardo Felisatti

In april 2019 zong Maaike als soliste op diverse podia in Nederland samen met het CvA Symphonisch Orkest o.l.v. Andrew Grams. Het was Richard Strauss zijn muziek die tijdens concert centraal stond.

In september van dit jaar ging zij samen met de Politie Kapel o.l.v. Martien Maas op concerttour door Normandië. Samen met hen was zij ook te horen als soliste op het 75^e herdenkingsconcert van de Brabantse gesneuvelden in Den Bosch.

In januari 2020 zong Maaike wederom met het CvA Symphonisch Orkest maar dit keer o.l.v. Matthew Rowe. In februari zong zij Vitellia in Mozart’s ‘La Clemenza di Tito’. In maart 2021 stuurde zij cum laude af aan de masteropleiding.

Youngjae Kim is a 20 year old Dutch Classical Pianist who is now studying third year Classical Piano in the Amsterdam Conservatory. He was previously taught by the acclaimed professor Jan Wijn and has now been studying with David Kuyken.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Youngjae has naturalized in the Netherlands and has started a passionate pursuit of piano playing. He had participated in the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition for juniors in Salt Lake City of the United States in 2012, won third prize in Junior YPF Piano compeititon in 2013 playing a Mozart concerto with the Yehudi Menunhin Youth Orchestra, and has even won first prize in Prinses Christina Concours in Haarlem in 2013.

Along this musical Journey, Youngjae has performed in various lunch concerts in the  Kleine Zaal in the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam (2015), Grachtenfestival in Amsterdam (2014), the Nieuwe Kerk in Den Haag (2014), and the Emmy Verhey festival in Zaltbommel (2014).

Youngjae Kim has started playing the piano from when he was 6 years old, and has started to express deep passion for classical music by listening to all the Beethoven Symphonies with the orchestra score, and enjoying his first ever piano performance when he played front of his kindergarten classmates “Doctor Gradus Ad Parnassum” by Claude Debussy.

When Youngjae Kim first arrived in the Netherlands, he was part of the Sweelinck Academy in the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, enjoying his piano lessons, theory and choir classes, taking in the rich classical musical culture of the Netherlands. Ever since then, his passion for piano playing has grown tremendously exploring all kinds of diverse eras of classical music all the way from J.S. Bach to Franz Weisz. He is currently looking to continue his pianistic pursuit well into his adult years.

Outside of piano playing, Youngjae has taken great interest in composition by studying with Meric Artac. He has written four duets for piano and flutes as well as many solo piano pieces and a string quartet. He has taken singing lessons in order to understand the languages of the rich vocal history of Classical Music, such as Italian and German, and has taken conducting classes to improve his knowledge of orchestral music.