"Music of the baroque and classical eras has enchanted audiences throughout the ages with its lasting beauty and harmony. In the condensed form of a short rondeau, a ten minute concerto or sonata, some of our dearest hopes and loves seem to be crystallized."
                                              Hendrik Bouman

Sonata for Juppes Mvt.IV - "Live in Concert"*     
Simon Standage, baroque violin & Hendrik Bouman, harpsichord
Philip Bates Recital, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 2007.

Since thirty-three years Hendrik Bouman is counted among the most innovative and respected specialists of the international Early Music scene. He embraces within his expertise all elements of historical performance: the harpsichordist, fortepianist, the conductor, the improviser and prolific composer of baroque and classical music in the historical styles prevalent in 17th and 18th Century Italy, France, Germany, England and Spain. Uniting performance and composition, as was customary among Baroque composers, Hendrik Bouman is also the first internationally renowned virtuoso harpsichordist in two centuries to play his compositions on harpsichords he designed and built.

Founder-director of period orchestra, Les Nations de Montréal, ensembles Haydn Heritage, Concerto Felice, Baroque SaMuse, The Baroque Muse* and original harpsichordist of Musica Antiqua Köln, Hendrik Bouman has toured world-wide, has made award-winning recordings for DGG, EMI, REM/Radio Canada, Baroque Nouveau, and has recorded regularly for European and Canadian radio and television.

Since fifteen years Hendrik Bouman also receives wide acclaim for his period compositions numbering, to date, over ninety works comprising chamber music, orchestral music, concertos, solos for harpsichord and fortepiano, solos for non-keyboard instruments and music for baroque theatre, of which over two-thirds have been premiered in solo recitals, in duo and with his ensembles Baroque SaMuse, Concerto Felice and The Baroque Muse in Holland, France, Italy, Belgium, England, Québec and Atlantic Canada, India and South Africa. His works have also been performed by colleagues in Germany and Sweden.

The CBC/Radio Canada, CBCTV and ATV Canada have broadcast numerous 'live' premiere performances of his works as well as 14 feature portraits. On the 2nd of September 1997 CBCTV News broadcast footage of the HRH Princess of Wales's visit to Canada, with as sound track Hendrik Bouman's composition "Her Royal Highness Princess Diana's Ground". In the following year, his "Menuet de Matin" dedicated to the Prince of Oranje of the Netherlands was chosen as a theme for Radio Canada's daily programme Les Bonheurs de Sophie. His free improvisations in baroque style played on the Ruckers-Taskin harpsichord in the Musée de la Cité de la Musique in Paris were recorded 'live' in concert, and broadcast by Radio France at Easter 2003.

In September 2009 Hendrik Bouman founded The Baroque Muse*, a period ensemble of variable formation, whose musicians are principal players or leaders [first violinists] of renowned orchestras, and reputed soloists from the France, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and with whom he has collaborated over the years. In November 2009 The Baroque Muse premiered Hendrik Bouman's Five Baroque Concertos for Anna in Brighton England and then recorded the Concertos on CD in Sussex England.

His colleagues, Simon Standage, Grégoire Jeay and Heiko ter Schegget joined Hendrik Bouman in his concert Series Baroque by the Sea at Berkeley Homes' All Saints' Chapel in Eastbourne, Sussex, United Kingdom. These concerts feature historical repertoire, complemented by solo and duo performances of Hendrik Bouman's 17th and 18th Century style compositions. Guest artists in 2009 included the British tenor Charles Daniel in a Purcell programme and the British character actor David Horne in a Handel programme.

During his career Hendrik Bouman has performed in recitals and has appeared in duo with renowned artists: Nancy Argenta, Hajo Bäss, Brian Berryman, Charles Daniels, Max van Egmond, Reinhard Goebel, Wilbert Hazelzet, Grégoire Jeay, Matthew Jennejohn, Mireille Lagacé, Suzie LeBlanc, Marie Leonhardt, Jaap ter Linden, Matthias Maute, Susie Napper, Heiko ter Schegget, Carolyn Watkinson, Ifan Williams and since Spring 2008 with the English violinist Simon Standage who is also leader (first violin) of The Baroque Muse.

He has collaborated with renowned conductors Ivan Fischer, Philippe Herreweghe and Christopher Jackson, and with soloists Emma Kirkby, Ton and Tini Koopman, Jean Lamon, Gino Mangiocavalli, Nigel Rogers and Michael Schopper.

Hendrik Bouman has received many prizes for his recordings, including more than 40 re-editions, with DGG Archiv, EMI, REM/Radio Canada, Baroque-Nouveau: Edison Prize (Netherlands), Deutscher Schallplattenpreis (Germany), Le Grand Prix National du Disque, several Diapason d’Or and Répertoire Recommandé (Paris), Early Music Award (London) and the career Prize for Young Artists from the Federal State of North-Rhine Westfalia. He was recipient of the Canadian composers' SOCAN Foundation's CD program for the distribution to radio-broadcasters world-wide of his CDs Little Notebook for Anna I and Little Notebook for Anna II on which he plays his solo harpsichord and piano period compositions. He has received several grants from Canada, Italy and France for his innovative work as composer-performer of period music and as founding-director of the Festivals: Rendez-vous con Hendrik Bouman [Italy], Halifax 1749 Baroque and Baroque by the Sea, [Maritimes Canada] and the Baroque SaMuse Concert Series 2006-2007 [Montréal].

Having pursued his musical journey beyond his native Netherlands, residing in Germany, and subsequently with his family in Québec and Maritimes Canada, Italy, France, India and more recently in the United Kingdom, Hendrik Bouman has synthesized aspects of the baroque and classical musical heritage of his adopted homes, and has acquired proficiency in five languages.

Former professor of early keyboards and performance practice at Concordia University, Montréal and Université Laval, Québec City, Hendrik Bouman's teachings reflects the unique perspective he derives from improvising and composing in historical styles as well as his experiential musicological research and wide acquaintance with historical treatises. He has given masterclasses and lecture demonstrations throughout Europe, in North and South America, and India, and has judicated international competitions in Canada and Italy.

* formerly named Evidently Baroque