Ana Bakradze

Ana Bakradze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and began playing the piano at the age of six at the Tbilisi Art School. She continued her education at the Zakaria Paliashvili Central Music School in Tbilisi in 2014. In 2018 she graduated from high school with a gold medal as the best student of the year. Since 2018 she has been studying piano at the University of the Arts in Berlin under the guidance of professor Gottlieb Wallisch (Bachelor and Master).

In 2025 Ana Bakradze was honoured with the Förderpreis at the Classic Marathon, presented by the Rheingau Music Festival and Hessen Agentur. She is a scholarship holder of the Paul Hindemith Society Berlin, the Ad Infinitum Foundation and the International Music Academy Liechtenstein.

In the same year she was selected for a scholarship from the Lisa Batiashvili Foundation. She has performed as soloist and chamber musician at numerous concert series and festivals across Europe, including the Rheingau Music Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, het Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Pianoscope Festival (France), the Schiermonnikoog Chamber Music Festival, Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz, Musikalischer Sommer in Ostfriesland and in concerts in Berlin, Paris, London, Vienna, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Barcelona, Stockholm, Porto, Luxembourg, Geneva and Zurich.

As a little girl I walked with my mother in Naarden Vesting, on the way to the Turfpoortstraat, on the way to my grandmother. I can’t remember much about my visit to grandma, but what I still remember clearly are the high sidewalks and the buildings! The Spanish House, the Andreas Church! The former church building that was built by the Robert F.W. Bruinsma foundation was converted into a concert hall. How did that happen?

In my youth I listened to the St Matthew Passion many times in the Grote Kerk in Naarden. My parents were both organizationally involved in these beautiful performances by the Netherlands Bach Society. At that time, the seeds were sown for my development in and love for music. After my childhood and schooling, my husband and I have done a lot of work abroad and have lived in France for 25 years. The music then came into the background a bit, but it never really left my head. My husband passed away in 2005.

During that period I started organizing piano concerts on our estate in France. It was a success! And it gave me the energy and the idea to take up that also in the Netherlands after I sold the estate. To ensure that everything runs smoothly, the Robert F.W. Bruinsma set up. The main objective of our foundation is to support young musicians, especially piano students, on their way to their future.

The Andreaskerk in the Turfpoortstraat in Naarden Vesting has been purchased with the aim of creating a home base for the activities of our foundation. After three years of renovation, we have transformed the former church into a small-scale concert hall. In the initial phase of the renovation I met the pianist Nino Gvetadze. She was introduced to me by Jan Wijn, a well-known piano pedagogue in the Netherlands. Nino and I had a few conversations and it soon became clear that we are on the same page regarding thoughts about music and youth. So Nino presented her plan to me. An idea to bring young top talent from the piano master’s program at the conservatories into contact with people who are important for their development on the way to their career. And this was the starting signal for the ‘Naarden International Piano Festival’. We are both very proud that it has come to this.

You have a dream but you have to dare to stick your neck out to make it come true. Persevere, don’t hesitate, go after your goal!
Music connects people!
We hope to connect students with master pianists!
With a small team of employees, we are doing our best to put this festival on the map for the future.
We hope to offer you as an audience a few days of beautiful music!

Hankie Bruinsma Verbrugh (December 14, 1946 – October 23, 2023)
Co-founder of the Naarden International Piano Festival
Founder and former chairman of the Robert F.W. Bruinsma Foundation