Stefan Hofkes was born in 1972 in the Netherlands, where he studied the conducting and piano at the Utrecht Conservatoire, obtaining his concert recital degree in 1995. He continued his conducting studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Christopher Seaman. During this time he was also able to gain personal advice from Bernard Haitink. Stefan Hofkes received the Ricordi Conducting Award in 1997 and was listed among the twelve finalist conductors at the Tanglewood Festival 2000 by Seiji Ozawa. He combines the positions of Musical Director of the Reading Symphony Orchestra, the Bristol Concert Orchestra and Brent Opera with professional conducting work in Europe, fulfilling engagements and receiving invitations from the Transsylvanian State Philharmonic (Romania), the Maastricht Symphony, the orchestra of the Landesregierung Düsseldorf, the Lisbon Metropolitan and the Bristol Philharmonic. Stefan Hofkes is Principal Guest Conductor of the Utrecht International Music Festival where, in 1999 and 2000 respectively, he conducted Mozart's Don Giovanni and Britten's The Little Sweep to much acclaim.
Stefan Hofkes, as a pianist, has given chamber music recitals, in the U.K., Germany, France and Austria. Two Compact Discs have been released: one - with soprano Fabienne Borget, featuring works by Mozart, Gounod and Strauss - was released in Autumn 1999, while the second - also involving Nicholas Shipman (clarinet), David Lewis (viola) and Emer McGilloway (mezzo-soprano) - features the Reinecke Trio for clarinet, viola and piano Op.264, the Schubert 'Arpeggione' sonata in A minor D.821 arr. for clarinet & piano and Brahms' Op.91 songs. This disc has been released on the Innocent Ear label.
Innocent Ear BVD439-1
"Having spent twenty-five years as Concertmaster (Théatre Royal de la Monnaie 1968-75 and Orchestre National de Belgique 1975-93), I can speak warmly of the extraordinary qualities of Stefan Hofkes. I have rarely seen a conductor with such a remarkable rehearsal technique...thus getting complete collaboration (and) immediate contact. ...He is a fine musician and his concerts were communicative to the public. (He) will certainly make his mark in the conducting world in the near future." (JERROLD RUBENSTEIN, Nov. 2000).
