The Amsterdam harpsichordist, organist, conductor, clavichordist and early music-specialist Bob van Asperen - born 1947 - is highly sought after in his field.

Once a student of Gustav Leonhardt he is now a professor of harpsichord at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and teacher at summer academies in Europe and Canada where his masterclasses attract students from all over the world. His extensive knowledge of the repertoire from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is reflected in his wideranging concert programmes.

In addition to concert engagements in Holland, foreign tours have included performances thourghtout Europe and the United States, Russia and Australia.

Bob van Asperen was also a member of the jury at several important harpsichord competitions like Amsterdam, Paris, Nantes and Hamburg. His recordings have received much critical acclaim - Edison Prize, Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Cecilia Prize Belgium.

In the field of musicology van Asperen presented reconstructions of works by J.S. Bach (sonatas and concerti), and the Dutch composers Sweelinck, Sybrandus van Noordt (the first Dutch harpsichord sonata, ca. 1703), and Cornelius Thymenszoon Padbrué, of which he made a reconstruction of the first Dutch oratorio, the Tears of Peter and Paul, 1646 - on a text by Dutch "Price of Poets" Vondel.