HANRICH CLAASSEN is a passionate cellist, conductor and educator who believes that a balance between educating and performing music is the key to true artistic enlightenment.

Mr. Claassen obtained his Bachelor of Music in both piano and cello at the University of the Free State in South Africa. He furthered his cello studies at the University of Stellenbosch, where he completed both a Music Honours Degree and his Masters Degree in Chamber Music. Mr. Claassen was awarded the Teacher's Licentiate from the University of South Africa with distinction before furthering his cello studies in Portugal in 2003 at the Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas.

During the course of his studies, Mr. Claassen received numerous awards and merit scholarships in South Africa. He is a previous gold medalist of the Free State Music Society Scholarship Competition, as well as the Free State Orchestra Instrument Competition. In August 2001 he was the overall winner of the Huguenot Music Society Prize Competition in Stellenbosch. Mr. Claassen was a semi-finalist in the 2002 UNISA String competition and in the same year was runner-up during the UNISA Overseas Scholarship Competition. Mr. Claassen was awarded the bronze medal during the 2010 Len van Zyl Conducting Competition in Cape Town after his direction of the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. More recently, Mr. Claassen was semi-finalist in the prestigious 5th Edition of the Blue Danube International Opera Conducting Competition with the Bulgarian State Opera Ruse (Rousse).

Mr. Claassen was extensively involved in performing arts while growing up in Windhoek, Namibia and Bloemfontein, South Africa. He performed as cello and piano soloist with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra, Performing Arts Council of the Free State Symphony Orchestra and with the KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra. He has attended master classes in South Africa, as well as in Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, and Brazil from Anton Nel, Martino Tirimo, Alexander Ivashkin, Borislav Strulev, Antonio Meneses, Radu Adelescu, Heidi Litschauer, Xenia Jankovich and the Jerusalem String Quartet, Victor Yampolsky, amongst others.

As a professional cellist, Mr. Claassen has been a member of various philharmonic and chamber orchestras in the USA, South Africa, Portugal, Bahrain and China. During Mr. Claassen’s stay in Shanghai he was the Assistant Music Director, cellist and conductor for the Shanghai Baroque Chamber Orchestra. Other notable conduc