Stephen van der Hoek, after having strangely been born in Florence Italy, grew up in Adelaide. He took up piano at an early age, and studied privately with Irina Lioubimova. During his teenage years, he won various first prizes for piano and composition, including the Adelaide Eisteddfods, the Young Composers’ Award, and the McDonalds Performing Arts Challenge. He also studied harpsichord and organ, and has conducted various choirs in the Adelaide area.

After high school, he studied theology at the Luther Seminary in North Adelaide (which later was renamed, the Australian Lutheran College). At the end of 2008, Stephen was ordained as a pastor in the Lutheran Church, and has since served three parishes in Gippsland, Victoria, Mt Barker, South Australia and Maryborough, Queensland. In 2005, Stephen married fellow musician Mary-Ann, and since then they have had seven children.

In Stephen’s final year of seminary, he won first prize for the Adelaide Eistedfodd Piano Concerto Competition with his performance of Medtner’s Piano Concerto No 2, and the Young Performer of the Year Award in Sydney. As the AETT scholar of 2008, he took up his scholarship studying and performing in the USA in 2010, with a special focus on church music. Stephen continues to perform in local performances, and regularly composes sacred music.