Mattias Spee is a young, multi-talented musician from The Netherlands. Over the years, he has received praise as a classical pianist due to his highly personal interpretations and his “velvet touch”. Especially in regards to contemporary music, Spee has discerned himself as a musician for whom no challenge seems big enough. He has been noted for his artistic versatility and has regularly been called one of the biggest piano talents of The Netherlands. Spee is a laureate of the SJMN Competition (2010), the Rotterdam Piano Festival (2011), the Steinway Piano Competition (2014), the Princess Christina Competition (2014), the Vrienden Culture Prize (2019), Dutch Classical Talent (2023/2024) and the Piano Duo Festival Composition Prize (2026), among others. The Muziekinstrumentenfonds (Dutch Music Instrument Foundation) has gratiously lent him a Grotrian-Steinweg grand piano, to facilitate his musical activities. Spee is a dedicated vegan and is outspoken on the impact our way of life has on the planet and on animal-welfare.
YOUTH At age 13, Spee made his debut as a soloist with Holland Symfonia in the Phil Haarlem. As the winner of the Steinway Piano Competition 2014, he was invited to perform at the 16th International Steinway Festival in Hamburg, where he made his international debut in a sold-out Laieszhalle. That same year, he made a chamber music concert tour in Taiwan, performing outside of Europe for the first time at age 17. Soon after, he started his studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where he took lessons in piano with David Kuyken, contemporary music with Ralph van Raat and composition with Willem Jeths.
MUSICAL THEATRE Since then, Spee has developed himself as an interdisciplinary artist, as well. On a commission from the Grachtenfestival, he created the musical theater piece Waar Gezongen Wordt (Where People Sing) in 2022, alongside Shula Tas & Chieko Donker Duyvis. That same year, Spee collaborated with Arjan Linker on a musical theater piece entitled Tijdcapsules (Time Capsules), with live visual effects by Sea the Sound. Recently he made the musical theater piece Bartók de Barbaar (Bartók the Barbarian) in collaboration with Dansstorm Oost, on a commission from the Piano Biennale. Currently, Spee is working on a new musical theater piece, based on the myth of Psyche & Eros, alongside Roza Herwig & Anna Jurriaanse.
PREMIERES Spee often collaborates with contemporary composers on premieres of their new works. The premiere performance of Jo Sporck’s piano concerto Into Silence was hailed as “the high point of festival November Music 2023” in 5-star reviews. Furthermore, he has received praise for his premiere performance of Samuel Carl Adams’s Piano Sonata no. 3 at the Concertgebouw. Spee has worked alongside composers/performers on premieres of their pieces that they performed together, including Linda Diaz’s Time’s Lament, Pepijn Streng’s Jij! and Joshua Herwig’s What do you Know? In September of 2025, a new album entitled Elaia was presented at the Concertgebouw, with new works by Amir Swaab, performed by Mattias Spee, Hadewych van Gent and Merel Vercammen. The album is available through record label Attacca.
MUSICAL TREASURE HUNT Recently, Spee made a splash with a series of album entitled Eclipse, featuring hidden gems from the piano repertoire. For this project, Spee collaborated with a number of artists, including Ed Spanjaard, Maya Fridman, Maria Pedano and Philzuid. In February of 2025 the project was presented in a sold-out concert at De Duif, broadcast by NTR Het Avondconcert on NPO Klassiek. The Eclipse series, featuring works by Joseph Wölfl (Vol. 1), Hans Henkemans (Vol. 2) and Sergei Protopopov (Vol. 3), as well as the complete box-set, is available through record label TRPTK.
INSOMNIA In November of 2026, Spee will release Insomnia, his first album with original music. It is a live recording from the 2023/2024 season, when Spee toured a number of venues with this music, including the major concert halls associated with Dutch Classical Talent, as well as the Concertgebouw, the Ramses Shaffy Huis, Stinze Stiens and, most appropriately, the Museumnacht (Museum Night) in Amsterdam and the Nacht van de Verbeelding (Night of the Imagination) in Gent, among others. The album consists of a selection of compositions and improvisations depicting the different stages of a sleepless night. It will be available through record label Challenge Records.
UPCOMING PROJECTS Spee is currently working on several new projects. In the summer of 2026, the Flanders Symphony Orchestra will perform their production of Het Voorlaatse Carnaval der Dieren (The Penultimate Carnaval of the Animals), which includes several additions to Camille Saint-Saëns’s famous work, among them Spee’s new composition The Jellyfish. In the fall of 2026, pianist Elizabeth Goh will be doing the Dutch Classical Talent tour (the same tour that Spee did himself three year prior). For her tour, she is developing a production entitled The Little Blue Notebook, which includes a new composition for toy piano by Spee. In January of 2026, Spee was named the winner of the Piano Duo Festival Composition Prize, which entails that his composition Pentacle will be premiered by Piano Duo Scholtes & Janssen at the Piano Duo Festival 2026. Furthermore, Spee is working on his first opera, based on the life’s story of Willem Arondeus.