Our Ambassador in the Netherlands

Ben van Oosten was born in The Hague in 1955. He studied the organ and the piano at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and subsequently in Paris. He gave his debut recital in The Hague in 1970 aged fifteen. Since then he has made extensive concert tours throughout the world which established his reputation as one of the foremost international organists of our time. Aside from his concert career, he is organ professor at the Rotterdam Conservatory, where he teaches students from many countries.

Ben van Oosten is best known for his highly regarded recordings of French Romantic organ literature for the MD&G label, including the eight sonatas of Alexandre Guilmant and the complete organ works of Louis Vierne and Charles-Marie Widor, which received several international prizes (such as the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the Diapason d’Or). He is currently involved in a similar Marcel Dupré CD project.

Ben van Oosten is the author of the comprehensive (German) Widor biography “Charles-Marie Widor – Vater der Orgelsymphonie”.

Because of his services to French organ music, he was decorated on three occasions by the French Société Académique Arts, Sciences, Lettres in Paris. In 1998 the French government accorded him the rank of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Ben van Oosten is organist at the Grote Kerk in The Hague and artistic director of the annual International Organ Festival in that church.