Pieter Affourtit
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Pieter was born into a family where classical music did not receive daily attention. The radio was often on popular stations and he liked that. When he was six years old he saw Michael Jackson on TV and that awakened the deep desire in him to start performing too, to become a 'stage animal', in whatever form or with whatever.
His parents encouraged him to learn to play a musical instrument and he was allowed to take recorder lessons. Pieter was seven and thought it was a party! After a year, a 'real' instrument could be chosen and he had no idea.
His sister got a piano and Pieter had a lot of fun playing the songs on the radio, but he didn't want lessons.
This simmered for three years, until Pieter was paired with a girl from his class to play something at the Christmas celebration. While practicing, he asked her if he could play her violin for a while and that was it! He felt like he could already do it, it was like coming home. The instrument was found!
From that moment on, a world opened up for him: violin lessons, discovering classical music, the pain and emotion of hearing Bach's double violin concerto for the first time, Tartini's violin concertos and Monteverdi's Marian Vespers. Actually, nothing has changed since then: he still feels like a child in a candy store, tears still regularly flow when hearing and playing music and: there is still so much to discover. And yes, he is a stage animal. Performing is a party! Thanks to Michael Jackson...
