Maria Milstein - About

It is an incredible honour for me to have been chosen for a BBT Fellowship in 2016. The Fellowship allowed me to finally realise a project I have been cherishing for some years – recording with my pianist sister Nathalia, focusing on a programme of French music around Marcel Proust and his masterpiece, À la recherche du temps perdu. I am hugely grateful for the incredible support and guidance of the BBT team in the past year, and look forward immensely to the realisation of my plan this coming year!

Moscow-born and now resident in the Netherlands, violinist Maria Milstein has many strings to her bow. Not only an international soloist, she is also a duo partner with her pianist sister Nathalia, and a member of the Van Baerle Trio with cellist Gideon den Herder and fellow BBT alumnus, Hannes Minnaar. As yet more evidence of her love for collaboration and chamber music, Maria and her violinist husband violinist Mathieu van Bellen have established the MuziekHaven in Zaandam, a performance and recording space where musicians can retreat to devote themselves fully to their music.

With her BBT Fellowship, Maria developed a repertoire themed around Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu, entitled La Sonate de Vinteuil. Recorded with her sister and released by Mirare, the album features sonatas by Pierné, Saint-Saëns and Debussy as well as song transcriptions by Reynaldo Hahn, Proust’s one-time partner. Maria’s fellowship also funded videos taken at the recording sessions, as well as new photographs. Given the nature of the recording, BBT also supported French PR to promote the disc’s release, which received five-star reviews and glowing recommendations.

Maria was supported with a BBT Fellowship between 2016 and 2018.

For a current biography please visit mariamilstein.com

Read Maria’s blogs: MusiekHaven Zaandam, Matthieu and me here; and A Proustian Poser here

Press Release: The Vinteuil Sonata

Photographs by Simon van Boxtel and Marco Borggreve