Henk Neven studied with Maarten Koningsberger and Margreet Honig at the Conservatory of Amsterdam where he graduated cum laude in 2003. He has partaken in masterclasses with Graham Johnson, Graham Clark, Rudolf Jansen, Hartmut Höll, Jard van Nes and Henk Smit. In April 2010 he received the coveted Dutch Music Prize, the highest cultural prize awarded in the Netherlands.
Henk’s operatic roles include Marco Gianni Schicchi in Dresden, Don Alfonso Cosí fan tutte, Leporello Don Giovanni, Almaviva Le Nozze di Figaro, Aeneas Dido and Aeneas, Schaunard La Bohème in Dijon, Ben The Telephone and Mr. Gobineau The Medium by Menotti, Mars Vénus et Adonis by Desmarest in Nancy, in addition to a CD recording under the baton of Christophe Rousset. Henk made his debut in Strauss Capriccio at Opéra National de Paris and has performed with Daniel Barenboim at Staatsoper Berlin Unter den Linden as Morales in Bizet Carmen. He has been a guest in many opera houses in Europe, including Le Duo de Dijon, Le Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, L’Opéra National de Montpellier and Het Nederlands Muziektheater.
Henk has worked with well-known ensembles including the Orchestra of the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, Het Brabants Orkest, Het Orkest van de Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Het Rotterdams Philharmonic Orkest, Het Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Het Radio Kamer Filharmonie, Het Vlaams Radio Orkest, L’Orchestre National de France, L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre d’Opéra National de Paris, Staatskapelle Berlin, L’ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Le Concert Spirituel and Les Talens Lyriques. He has worked with conductors including Edo de Waart, Jaap van Zweden, Jos van Veldhoven, Jan Willem de Vriend, John Nelson, Hervé Niquet, Emanuel Krivine, Kenneth Montgommery, Joel Levi, Paulo Olmi, Armin Jordan, John Nelson, Ed Spanjaard, Marc Soustrot and Christophe Rousset. Henk has performed at the Festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht, the Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam and in the ZaterdagMatinee series in the Concertgebouw he has sung Vanessa (Barber), Bakchantinen (Wellesz), Jérusalem (Verdi), Flammen (Schulhoff) and Roucher in Giordano Andrea Chenier.
He has given recitals with cellist Jan Bastiaan Neven and pianist Jelger Blanken as part of the concert series 'Het Debuut' (The Debut). In the Robeco summer series of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam he performed the title role in Don Giovanni in addition to giving a recital in the Kleine Zaal with pianist Hans Eijsackers. Recently Neven also performed with this pianist in the concert series 'Jonge Nederlanders' in the Concertgebouw.
Recent engagements include Pollux in Rameau Castor et Pollux and Mercutio Roméo et Juliette at De Nederlandse Opera, Leporello Don Giovanni at Opéra de Montpellier and Don Giovanni in Rouen, Frère Léon in Messiaen Saint-François d’Assise at De Nederlandse Opera and at the 2008 Proms in London, the title role in Marschner Der Vampyr at the Amsterdam Festival, Patrocle Iphigénie en Tauride at Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Ottokar Der Freischütz at the Theater an der Wien and Les Indes Galantes at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He made his BBC Proms debut in 2010 singing the role of Kurwenal with Sir Simon Rattle and the Orchestra of the Age of Englightenment in a concert performance of Wagner Tristan und Isolde and also gave a lunchtime Proms Chamber recital in the same season. 2010 also saw Henk’s debuts at the Cheltenham and City of London Festivals.
Engagements in the 2010/11 season include Mercutio Roméo et Juliette at De Nederlandse Opera, Matthäus Passion at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Donald Billy Budd for De Nederlandse Opera, OEdipe at Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and Die Zauberflöte in Marseille. He gives recitals at the Concertgebouw, La Monnaie, the Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, the City of London Festival, and makes his debut at the Wigmore Hall, London, and the Sage, Gateshead. Henk will also record with the BBC Orchestras, including the BBC Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony, as part of the New Generation Artists programme.
In November 2010, Henk recorded his first commercial album, for Onyx Classics, of Lieder by Schumann and Carl Loewe. This was released in April 2011 with excellent reviews from the media.
Henk Neven has won the Borletti Buitoni Award and is a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.
