Ralph Rousseau

Ralph Rousseau Meulenbroeks ("Rousseau" being the family name of his mother which can be traced back to the Rousseaus in 18th century France - perhaps even to the famous gamba player and theorist Jean Rousseau) showed his prodigious talent at an early age, playing the piano and (bass) guitar at the age of eight. He later combined his conservatory double bass studies (with Henk Guldemond) with a masters and Ph.D. in physics. Both his conservatory soloist diploma and his masters degree in physics were awarded "cum laude". He was asked to play double bass in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and worked with major conductors such as Ricchardo Chailly, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Moreover, he gave many recitals and solo concerts with orchestras in the Netherlands and abroad, including numerous radio and tv performances. Amazingly, he managed to find time to play jazz, pop and rock music in several bands as well.

His getting acquainted with the viola da gamba in 1996 gave him te opportunity to advance and redirect his solo career and to continue his search for the experience of pure music. Since then Ralph has specialised in performing early music, studying viola da gamba with Jaap ter Linden and following masterclasses with Anneke Pols, Freek Borstlap, Rainer Zipperling, Philippe Pierlot en Mineke van der Velden. He is now an esteemed soloist, both in several chamber music ensembles as well as in orchestral works such as the Passions and cantatas of J.S. Bach. He has produced several highly acclaimed cd's with solo music for viola da gamba as well as a live dvd.

With the viola da gamba he has played for radio and television and he can be heard on several CDs, including the St Matthew Passion by Johann Theile and very recently two CD's with music for solo viola da gamba. Ralph Meulenbroeks played solo in the Fringe of the Early Music Festival in Utrecht (2000 through 2002), in the Dutch Early Music network (2003/2004), and in music festvials in Germany, Wroclaw (Poland), Strartford-on-Avon (UK), Brussels, Amsterdam, and Paris. He has recently worked with artists like Max van Egmond, Claron McFadden, sir Roger Norrington, Ivan Fisher, and Janine Jansen and he was a soloist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2006-2008. Outside of the Netherlands his solo recitals have taken him to Belgium, France, Great Britain, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the USA, Thailand, and China.