Biography

Pieter de Koe is an energetic and adventurous cellist with a strong foundation in chamber music.
He is the founder of the acclaimed Animato Kwartet and also seeks new artistic collaborations where sound, movement, and visual elements complement and challenge each other.
Recent projects include Suite B., a performance centered on the cello suites of Benjamin Britten, which Pieter developed with dancer Uri Eugenio. This performance was featured at festivals such as Wonderfeel and Klaterklanken. During the LAB at the Heidelberger Frühling Festival, Pieter curated concert programs in which the location played an active role, featuring music by Sofia Gubaidulina, Johannes Brahms, and Alfred Schnittke, performed at special sites around Heidelberg in collaboration with architects, arrangers, and lighting designers.
In his most recent project, he explores how music can take on a tangible form. Together with visual artist Olivia Ettema and graphic designer Anke Boeren, he is developing, for his first solo album – featuring works by Claude Debussy and Benjamin Britten – a series of hand-printed leporello editions in which image and sound physically intersect.
As a soloist, Pieter has performed the cello concertos of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Joseph Haydn, and Johan de Meij, as well as works by Valter Dešpalj. He has been a guest at festivals such as the Davos Festival, the Internationaal Kamermuziekfestival Schiermonnikoog, the Februari Festival, and the Stift Festival, collaborating with ensembles such as ISH Dance Collective and Hotel Courage.
Together with the Animato Kwartet, which he co-founded, Pieter has built an international career. The quartet is considered one of the most promising young string quartets and has won the Kersjesprijs (2023), first prize at the Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation Competition (2025), as well as awards in Banff, Trondheim, and Weimar. They were selected for the Verbier Festival Academy and performed as soloists with the Nederlands Kamerorkest at TivoliVredenburg and Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
The quartet recently performed at the Koningsdagconcert and Prinsengrachtconcert and appeared on international stages such as the Philharmonie de Paris, Philharmonie Luxembourg, and Gewandhaus Leipzig. In 2024, they toured Indonesia with concerts and workshops in collaboration with the Erasmushuis Jakarta.
In 2025, two new recordings will be released: a CD of the nonet Ever Yours by Osvaldo Golijov and their debut album featuring works by Benjamin Britten and Béla Bartók. Upcoming projects include tours to Germany, Finland, and Hungary, performances in the Oslo Quartet Series, and a collaboration with the Quatuor Danel.
Pieter studied at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag with Jan Ype Nota and Michel Strauss, and continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg with Jean-Guihen Queyras. Earlier, he studied in the Young Talent department at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Monique Bartels. His chamber music specialization took place at the Nederlandse Strijkkwartet Academie and the European Chamber Music Academy, under mentors such as Eberhard Feltz, Marc Danel, and Hatto Beyerle.
Pieter has been supported by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Stichting Stringendo, the Norma Fonds, and the Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrumentenfonds. He plays a rare Amsterdam cello by Pieter Rombouts (1710), made possible through the Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrumentenfonds.