Nikolaus Besthorn is a versatile performer, excelling at both violin and viola. He is a passionate chamber musician and Soloist known for his warm sound and unique interpretations.  In the last years he won numerous awards, including the Harold Craxton Prize of the Royal Academy of Music (UK), 4th prize at “Remember Enescu” (Romania) and 1st prize at 3rd Làszlò Spezzaferri International Music Competition in Italy.

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Born into a musical family, violinist and violist Nikolaus showed an interest in classical music from a young age and started violin lessons with his mother at the age of 6 years. At 12 years old, Nikolaus became a pupil of renowned violin teacher Prof. Petru Munteanu (Hamburg / Augsburg), with whom he studied later during his BA Music degree at the Leopold-Mozart-Centre of University of Augsburg, Germany.

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Nikolaus is passionate about Chamber music. In 2014 he became a permanent member of “Concertino Ensemble” in which he earned invaluable experience as chamber musician but also as soloist. He is founding member of the Atem Quartet, which passed after just one month of existence the audition to “The Frost Trust Advanced Specialist Strings Ensemble Training”(London) and got coached by Jon Thorne, the Doric Quartet, Isabel Charisius (Alban Berg Quartet) and other inspiring internationally recognized musicians. Just one year later he found another piano quintet and won the Harold Craxton Prize of the Royal Academy of Music.

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Masterclasses with distinguished musicians such as Prof. Ulrike Danhofer (Vienna), Florin Parvulescu (San Francisco), Prof. Hartmut Rohde (berlin), Prof. Hong Wang (Beijing) and others gave him important inspiration for his musical development.

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Whilst doing his Bachelor of Music in Leopold-Mozart-College of Music of University Augsburg with Prof. Petru Munteanu, he became interested in the viola so decided to continue his studies at Universtity of Augsburg with an Master degree in Viola performance with Ludwig Schmalhofer. In the same year, 2019, Nikolaus becomes pupil of celebrated violin teacher and soloist Prof. Remus Azoitei (London).

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He is currently finishing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, undertaking a MMus in Violin Performance.