Stefan Hofkes has been Musical Director of the Reading Symphony Orchestra for the past nine years.

He was born in the Netherlands where he studied piano and conducting at the Utrecht Conservatoire, under Ton Hartsuiker, Alan Weiss and David Porcelijn. After gaining his piano solo-recital prize (UM) under Alexander Warenberg, he continued his conducting studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in
London with Christopher Seaman, winning the Ricordi Conducting Prize in 1997.

He was invited as one of the selected conductors taking part in the first “Young Dutch Conductors’ presentation” with the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra and reached the finals of the Tanglewood Fellowship competition, conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Boston Symphony Hall.

He received extensive coaching from Bernard Haitink who also invited him for an opera work experience period at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Stefan combines a busy schedule as Musical Director of Reading Symphony Orchestra and Bristol Concert Orchestra with orchestral and opera invitations and engagements throughout Europe, including the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra, Musica Ducis,

the Utrecht International Chamber Festival, the Transylvanian State Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra.

At Beauforthuis in Holland, Stefan is Artistic Director of both the yearly “Opera!” festival, conducting productions with top young opera singers from all over Europe, and the “Music, alive and kicking” series, a national initiative focusing on classical concerts. Both combine performances with extensive workshops for children and younger music fans. Recent operatic productions have included Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi Fan Tutte.

As a pianist, Stefan is in demand as an accompanist and chamber musician, working with some of Britain’s and Holland’s foremost instrumentalists and singers. Concert tours have taken him from Europe to as far as the USA and the Middle East, and he has performed in venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vredenburg Centre, Utrecht, London’s Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall, and St George’s, Bristol.

His CD releases on the Musaeus and BVD-classical labels have met with critical acclaim in the UK.