(literally: And suddenly I was noble - My new family is called von Anhalt)
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"Joachim Held is a successful lute player and teaches at one of the world's most prestigious institutions - the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He grew up in an orphanage and later with his adoptive mother. As a teenager, he learned that his biological mother is an aristocrat: Marie-Antoinette von Anhalt."
Joachim Held is one of the foremost lute players of his generation. He captivates his audience with the refinement of his playing and moves the listener with a passion gleaming through his music making. In 2006 Joachim Held is the first lute player ever to receive the renowned German Echo - Klassik Award. This is in the category "Best soloist recording of the year" for his CD "Delightful Lute - Pleasure. Baroque Lute music from the lands of the Habsburgs", released by Hänssler Classic.
Joachim Held was born in Hamburg in 1963 and studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as a pupil of Eugen Dombois and Hopkinson Smith. Following the graduation with a "Diploma of Period Music" in 1988 he completed his studies under Jürgen Hübscher at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe with a "Künstlerische Abschlussprüfung".
In 1990 the second prize at the Concours Musica Antiqua of the Flandern Festival in Brügge marked the beginning of his international concert career. Read more
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