Romée Verbeeck Ghoos began playing the violin at the age of six. At fourteen, she was admitted to the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, in the ‘School for Young Talent’ department. Shortly thereafter, she had the opportunity to continue her studies with Professor Coosje Wijzenbeek at the Sweelinck Academy of the Conservatory of Amsterdam. In 2019, she was accepted into the class of Professor Yossif Ivanov at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where she studied for five years.
During her studies there, Romée also took private lessons with former concertmaster Dimitri Ivanov, who is still her violin Professor today. In 2024, she was admitted to Maestro Francesco Manara’s class at the Accademia di Musica in Pinerolo. Starting in October 2025, she will continue her studies with Professor Sergey Khachatryan.
Since 2024, Romée has been attending regular annual masterclasses with Professor Olivier Charlier (CNSM, Paris). In 2020, Romée received intensive four-day training in Beethoven’s violin sonatas with students from the Menuhin School London. She performed at the renowned ‘Festival Next Generation’ in Bad Ragaz (Liechtenstein). In 2021, she was awarded a scholarship to the Académie Internationale d’Été de Nice. In January 2024, she had the opportunity to participate in a masterclass with Soloist Sergey Khachatryan at the Accademia di Musica in Pinerolo, and in November 2024, during the ‘Echo Arts Music Festival,’ she again received intensive masterclasses from him. In August 2024, she was accepted to a masterclass with Maestro Giovanni Angeleri at the Fondazione Musicale Masiero e Centanin in Arqua Petrarca.
Romée plays on a violin made in 1925 by the Dutch violin maker Max Möller. Her bow is also by Möller. Both were made available to her by Strings For Talent, a fund under the patronage of the King Baudouin Foundation.
Guillaume Max Möller (aka Max Jr.,1915–1985 Amsterdam) was a Dutch master luthier from Amsterdam.
Möller was mentored as a luthier by his father, Paul Max Möller (1875–1948). He also trained at Staatliche Berufsfachschule für Musikinstrumentenbau Mittenwald(Musical Instrument Making School Mittenwald). Möller was employed by Amédée-Dominique Dieudonné (1890– ) and Charles Enel (1880–1954). He moved to New York 1935 to work with Simone Sacconi in the workshop of Emil Herrmann. Upon the death of his father in 1948, Möller returned to Amsterdam to head his father’s studio, where he worked with continuing craftsmen Karl Rutz (1896– ), Jan Santmann (1920–1978), and later Hartmut Leonhardt until Möller’s retirement 1980. His son, Berend Max Möller (1944–1989), succeeded him at the violin studio until he had been fatally shot in 1989 during a home burglary. Berend’s wife, Cornélie, ran the shop until 2006. Luthier Andreas Post (born 1956), a master violin maker who had trained in Mittenwald (1982) and worked for Möller, moved his shop into the same location in 2008.
Möller won the Coupe du Gouvernment de Liège for a quartet in 1954, and a frequent member of competition juries himself. In addition to writing his seminal book, The Violin-Makers of the Low Countries in 1955, he co-founded of the Entente des Maîtres Luthiers et Archetiers d’Art (Understanding Masters Violin and Bow Makers Art).