Biography

Music is music, regardless the genre, and that has fascinated the Dutch organist Bert van Stam (1989) all his life. He makes music as organist, church musician and composer. At the age of 6, he received his first organ lessons, which eventually lead to admission to the Young Talent class at the Rotterdam Conservatorium at the age of 15. He continued there his studies in organ, continuo, church music and improvisation. Among his teachers were Bernard Winsemius, Ben van Oosten and Hayo Boerema. After obtaining his master's degree in 2013, he took improvisation and composition lessons with i.a. Guy Bovet (Neuchâtel), Michael Schütz (Berlin) and Andries van Rossem (Arnhem).

Van Stam won the third prize on the 2007 Govert van Wijn Competition in Maassluis, the second and audience prize at the 14th International César Franck Competition (2013), the second Sweelinck-Müller prize 2014 and the third prize at the 15th Internation César Franck Competition (2017).

In 2018 he became the main organist in the Maranathakerk in The Hague.There he recorded his first album Sprezzatura (2019). In 2021 he released his second album La Belle Époque. In 2023 followed an appointment as organist in the Old Catholic Gertrudis Cathedral in Utrecht.

His compositions and transcriptions were published by Boeijenga Music. and are frequently performed by fellow organists.

Besides his musical activities, Van Stam has a fulltime job in IT.