Lestari Scholtes

In 2024, Lestari released her solo debut album A Private Story on Challenge Records – a deeply personal homage to the music of Chopin. The album received a 9/10 rating from Pianist Magazine, which praised her playing as “intimate, sincere, deeply felt, and natural.” Lestari has performed with orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the North Netherlands Orchestra, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Rotterdam, The Hague Philharmonic, and the Brabant Orchestra. Her performances have taken her to prestigious venues including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall in New York, and Kioi Hall in Tokyo, as well as to festivals throughout Europe and beyond, such as the Festival of Bath, the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, TonLagen Dresden, and the Basilica Festival of Flanders.

Alongside her solo career, Lestari is a passionate chamber musician. Since 2003, she has formed the internationally acclaimed Pianoduo Scholtes & Janssens with Gwylim Janssens, performing in more than thirty countries and winning numerous prizes. About their performance of Stravinsky’s Petrouchka at Carnegie Hall, the American press wrote: “Superb teamwork – two as one – with excellent, turn-on-a-dime transitions between episodes.” The duo has released several albums on Challenge Records, including Mozart/Schubert and Canto Ostinato.

Since 2015, Lestari has also been a member of Trio 258, together with violinist Eduardo Paredes Crespo and cellist Leonard Besseling. Their debut album, featuring Rachmaninoff’s monumental Second Piano Trio, was released in 2023 to great acclaim, earning five stars from Pizzicato Magazine: “The three musicians dose tastefully in an always intense, exciting interpretation, using the exuberance of melodies and themes to stir up contrasts and give the work the great Russian soul that distinguishes it.” Their new album, Bohemian Legacy, will be released in 2026. Born in the Netherlands to an Indonesian mother and Dutch father, Lestari began piano lessons at the age of seven. She studied with Ton Demmers at the Brabant Conservatory and later with Jan Wijn at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where she obtained both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. She has taken masterclasses with renowned artists including Menahem Pressler, Paul Lewis, and Viktor Derevianko, and is frequently invited to give masterclasses and serve on juries at (inter)national competitions.

Beyond her performing career, Lestari is active as a programmer and artistic director. She is the driving force behind the Vrienden van de Kamermuziek Amsterdam concert series and the Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam, and was Head of Programming for the Grachtenfestival from 2018 to 2021. Currently, she curates classical concerts for the Vondelpark Open Air Theatre and serves as a music editor for the Dutch national television program Podium Klassiek on NPO2.

Lestari lives in Amsterdam with her partner, violinist Eduardo Paredes Crespo, and their two young sons, Nathaniel and Elijah.