The Backer Trio – consisting of siblings Paulien, Vera and Julius Backer – has been praised for their seamless ensemble playing and innovative programme choices for their unique instrumentation of clarinet, violin and piano.
The trio gives highly varied concerts that incorporate all styles; from Mozart and Haydn to Milhaud and Khachaturian. They also enjoy preforming modern music and creating their own arrangements of existing works. Personal descriptions of the music shape the concerts into a beautiful experience. In this way, the trio takes the listener on a journey through all the different styles and shows the versatility of this unusual instrumentation.
Born in the same family, they have been making music together for many years. They regularly performs throughout the Netherlands, as well as France and Germany. They are frequently invited to festivals including the Aurora Festival. Apart from individual prizes at (inter)national competitions, as a trio they have also won prizes at the Prinses Christina Concours, among others.
The Backer Trio is also very much socially engaged. For instance, they play concerts for children in primary schools and special education.
Paulien Backer – clarinet
Paulien Backer is a chamber musician at heart. From an early age, she enjoyed making music with others, first on recorder and from 2010 on her ‘real’ instrument, the clarinet. At the age of 13, she played in the jongjongNBE. After tasting the spirit of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble for a year, she then played in the jongNBEnoord for two years. After those fantastic years, her dream is to one day play in the ‘big’ NBE. She has also participated in Summer Course Woudschoten, chamber music course for young musicians, every summer for more than eight years. In 2021, she had the honour of soloing with the orchestra here. Paulien is also active in student orchestras. She played in the USConcert for the past four years, joined NESKO in 2021 and regularly fills in for other orchestral projects. When Paulien played clarinet for a year, she was in the finals of the Haydn Music Festival, where a few years later she won first prize together with brother Julius. After several honourable mentions at the Prinses Christina Concours, she stood in the regional final in 2022 with the Backer Trio. She has also won several master classes. Music is the most important thing in Paulien’s life. This made it a logical step for her to move to the Randstad to study at the Codarts conservatoire in Rotterdam. After several inspiring years studying under the wings of Julien Hervé, Paulien just finished her Bacherlors degree with Bruno Bonansea and Raphaël Schenkel. Besides the Backer Trio, Paulien has founded another ensemble of her own; Het Havenstad Collectief. This young Rotterdam ensemble consists of eight Dutch musicians, including four brass players, three woodwind players, and a double bass player. The music for the ensemble is arranged by its own musicians, and the ensemble regularly performs its own compositions. The musicians got to know each other through the conservatoire in Rotterdam (Codarts) and have taken individual and group lessons with musicians from the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, among others.
Vera Backer – violin
Vera Backer is a very talented Dutch violinist. Raised in a family where music was central, Vera fell in love with the violin at a young age. Since the age of seven, she has been playing with great passion and has been working hard. Vera received her first lessons from Rita Rouw at the Strings Studio Groningen. Even as a child, Vera received a lot of appreciation for her playing. She made it to the finals of the Haydn Music Festival several times, which allowed her to solo with the Haydn Youth String Orchestra. At twelve, Vera made the step to the Young Talent Class of the Prince Claus Conservatoire in Groningen, where she studied with Veselina Manikova until the age of eighteen. In recent years, she participated in various competitions and courses, including the Aurora Festival and the Prinses Christina Concours. Here she won prizes with both her solo performance and her performance with the Backer Trio. Vera has a particular passion for chamber music; since 2020, she has been part of the Silhouet quartet. With this quartet, she played at the Emmy Verhey Festival, Aurora Festival among others and received master classes from renowned ensembles such as and the Artemis Quartet and Cuarteto Casals. Vera is currently studying at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Arisa Fujita. www.silhouetquartet.com