Willem Stam was born in Calgary in 1988. He studied cello at the local conservatory with John Kadz and participated in master classes with Lynn Harrel, Richard Aaron, Hans Jensen, Desmond Hoebig and Ron Leonard among others.
In 2006 after being awarded a generous grant from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, he began studying for a Bachelor of Music degree at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, the Netherlands with Dimitri Ferschtman. Willem has won prizes at various competitions such as the Provincial Music Festival in Alberta and the Dutch National Cello Competition. At the age of 17 Willem made his debut as a soloist with the Calgary Civic Symphony playing Dvorak’s Cello Concerto. He performs regularly as a chamber musician and recitalist in the Netherlands and has recently played recitals in Slovakia and Italy.
Upcoming engagements include a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Janacek Philharmonic in 2010. Willem plays on a Marinus Capicchioni (Rimini 1944) cello, made available by the National Instrument Foundation.
