Biography

Music is music, regardless the genre, and that has fascinated the Dutch organist Bert van Stam (1989) all his life. He is head organist of the Maranatha Church in The Hague. He enjoys playing the very best organ music by great classical composers such as Bach, Mozart, Liszt, Franck and Messiaen, but also enjoys working with living composers for new, exciting music. He also composes and makes arrangements of piano music, large orchestral works, jazz and pop songs for organ.

At the age of 15, he started in the Young Talent class at the Rotterdam Conservatoire with Bernard Winsemius, followed by the bachelor’s and master’s organ (with Ben van Oosten) and improvisation (with Hayo Boerema). In addition, he studied church music and continuo. In 2013, he finished this all with high grades. After his studies, he followed private lessons on improvisation and composition 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).

From 2018, Van Stam has been the main organist in the Maranathakerk in The Hague, a congregation with special attention to music and liturgy. There he plays the unique Mense Ruiter-organ (1952, IIP/23), on which he also recorded his first album Sprezzatura (2019). In 2021 he released his second album La Belle Époque.

Compositions by him were published in De Orgelvriend and Muziek & Liturgie and are published by Valeur Ajoutée.

Besides these musical activities, Van Stam works as a software developer.