Nikola Meeuwsen, winner of the 2025 Queen Elisabeth Competition at the tender age of 23, performed as part of HKU MUSE’s Piano Laureates in Concert series, alongside laureates of the Van Cliburn, Chopin and Leipzig Bach competitions. For his Hong Kong debut, Meeuwsen presented a daringly diverse programme, featuring works by Mendelssohn, Scriabin, Shostakovich, Mozart, and Schumann.

Nikola Meeuwsen Hong Kong Debut © Kurtachio / HKU MUSE

Meeuwsen opened the recital with a classically considered reading of Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses, Op. 54. The Variations unfolded with meticulous phrasing and a compelling sense of continuity and forward momentum, though the performance occasionally felt more cerebral than visceral. Variation 13 was a masterclass in the independence of the hands, as the left-hand theme provided an anchor for the flourishes in the right. Variation 14 was rendered as a chorale of embracing warmth, while the coda was executed with precision and unerring clarity.

Nikola Meeuwsen – Queen Elisabeth Competition 2025 – Semi-final recital

A last-minute programme change saw Scriabin’s Poème Op. 32 No. 1 replace Prokofiev’s Suggestion diabolique. Interpretively, Meeuwsen emphasised the fragile, crystalline nature of this miniature over its inner struggle, achieved through finely gradated pianissimo, superb tonal control and subtle poetry.

In Shostakovich’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, composed in memory of his teacher Leonid Nikolayev, more discreet pedalling might have better conveyed the harrowing paranoia and biting sarcasm of the first movement. Nevertheless, the parody of the march-like second theme and the climactic juxtaposition of the two themes was deftly captured. The brooding, slow movement possessed an apt suspense and lamentation. In the third movement, a set of extensive variations on a meandering theme, the music was, by turns, befittingly caustic and piercing (as in Più mosso and Allegretto con moto) and desolatingly empty (as in Poco meno mosso).

© Kurtachio / HKU MUSE

Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat major, K. 282, was approached in a way reminiscent of Mendelssohn, characterised by tightly controlled articulation and dynamics. While the menuets had an authentic Viennese flair, it was in the final Allegro that the humour central to Mozart’s music truly came to the fore.

The recital then culminated in a genuinely heartfelt and memorably cathartic account of Schumann’s Fantasie in C major, Op. 17. (Interestingly, both Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses and Schumann’s Fantasie contributed to the funds for the erection of a Beethoven monument in Bonn.) The opening movement is marked Durchaus fantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen, roughly “Quite fantastic and passionately delivered” – Meeuwsen did it justice in the most literal sense. It’s also here Meeuwsen really loosened up, and the result was as splendid as it could get: a magnificent synthesis of rhapsody, passion, unstoppable yearning, turbulence, and introspection. The coda, quoting Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, was sublime and ineffably beautiful. The festive march-like second movement was delivered with the pomp that the music demands, and its notorious large leaps towards the end were confidently tackled. In the final movement, the poetry concealed within its sweeping breadth was illuminated by sensitivity and intricate tonal control, building to a stately, grand climax. The agony gradually dissolved into a hushed yet sorrow-tinged conclusion. To perform this work with such mastery is a towering achievement in itself.

© Kurtachio / HKU MUSE

Three encores were gracefully offered. The first two Intermezzi from Brahms’ Op. 117 were imbued with autumnal melancholy and profundity, again with immaculate command of time and silence, as exemplified by his Schumann as well. Sandwiched between was Prokofiev’s Suggestion diabolique, which was originally in the main programme – nothing short of a tour de force. Unleashed at full throttle, this fearlessly diabolical reading exuded a palpable, goosebump-inducing menace. Meeuwsen demonstrated his capacity for technical fireworks when required, but with a maturity beyond his years, he has proven in this recital that his artistry is way more than that.

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Nikola Meeuwsen – Brahms: 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117