Elias Bartholomeus

Elias Bartholomeus commenced his musical studies at the age of 5, starting with the violin. A year later he swapped it for a cello. After several more years his preference shifted to percussion. He studied at the academies in Zaventem and Anderlecht, under Luc Artois and Erik Taelemans. In addition to percussion, he also began learning the double bass under Gaby Fragner and Joost Maegerman in Zaventem and in 2006 under Pascal Smet and Miguel Meulders in Anderlecht.

In 2007 Elias started percussion lessons at the Secondary School for the Arts in Brussels and three years later opted for the double bass as his main instrument, under Ruben Appermont. In 2009 he was accepted by the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels as a ‘Young Talent’, attending the class given by Christian Vander Borght. Since 2014, Elias has been studying in Jan Buysschaert’s class at the Luca School of Arts in Leuven.

Elias was already playing in a variety of genres and ensembles, with different sets of instruments. He was one of the winners of the Rotary-Breughel contest (2010) and performed F.A. Hoffmeister’s Concerto for Double Bass (2011) and G. Bottesini’s Passione Amorosa Duo for two double basses (2017) as a soloist with an orchestra.

He gained orchestral experience at the deFilharmonie Orchestral Academy (2012), in the EUYO spring tour (2015), as leader in the NJO summer tour (2013 & 2016) and in the Animato Foundation Orchestra (2016). He is also a permanent member of the YES-Camerata ensemble, with which he has already made a CD recording. He has also played with Prima la Musica, Piacevole, the Hermes Ensemble, the NOB and Brussels Philharmonic, and has worked on specific projects with Hooverphonic, Intergalactic Lovers and Ozark Henry, in film music (live and studio work), baroque ensembles, musicals and world music.