Biography

The SoundLake duo was born out of Jules Baeten’s participation in the Dutch young talent competition Classic Young Masters. As for repertoire for the finale, they chose the unique work Rare Sugar by Australian composer Nigel Westlake. The recording of their performances was broadcast on Klara afterwards.

Elisabeth and Jules were admired for their detailed and convincing ensemble playing. Their playing led to Jules being awarded the Classic Young Masters Award. After this successful collaboration, they decided to develop further as a duo. The name SoundLake duo, therefore, refers to the composer Westlake.

Jules is associated with SymphoniaASSAI and the National Youth Orchestra. In 2020, he completed his bachelor’s degree cum laude at the Maastricht Academy of Music with Roeland Hendrikx. He is currently studying at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague with the solo clarinettist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Olivier Patey. Jules also found inspiration in Sharon Kam at the Saline royale Academy and Pascal Moraguès at the Académie musicale de Villecroze, among others.

Elisabeth studied at the Maastricht Academy of Music with Tonie Ehlen. She also studied with Håkon Austø at the University of Stavanger in Norway. Elisabeth followed masterclasses with Pascal Devoyon, Joop Celis, Ronald Brautigam and Gerlinde Otto. Currently, she is taking lessons from the renowned Russian pianist Polina Leschenko. As a duo, they recently received a masterclass from Daniel Rowland.

Since they participated in Classic Young Masters, the duo has regularly had the opportunity to perform in the Netherlands. Last year, they performed during the television programme Podium Witteman provided a live stream for ‘Riemst gaat klassiek’ and gave a concert in the chapel of Ingenhousz in Breda. Some highlights of the duo are a performance in the Doelen in Rotterdam, a performance at the KlaraFestival and a recital in the theatre of Cuijk.

Partly thanks to the Willem Mengelberg Fund and Classic Young Masters, the SoundLake duo made some video recordings last year with TRPTK studios and GRYCKO visuals.  These recordings underline the duo’s mission, which is to present innovative, revolutionary pieces of music to the audience.