Jeroen van Vliet, born 1965, is known for his lyrical style and clear sound at the piano.
He is a composer, pianist and keyboardplayer in a wide variety of groups.
In 1985 and 1988 he won both first- and soloist prizes at the main contests of the Netherlands.
Between 1989 and 2007 he was the pianist in the groups of alto-player Paul van Kemenade and of bassplayer Eric van der Westen.
Throughout the years he worked with international artists as (a.o.) Bob Malach, Kenny Wheeler, John Zorn, Norma Winstone, Charly Mariano and Erkan Ogur, Jakob Bro.
His cooperation with trumpeter Eric Vloeimans resulted in a number of albums and concerts, both as a duo as well as in the group Gatecrash (Edison Award in 2007).
As a sideman van Vliet recorded about 50 albums, as a leader 9. Among his groups are the Jeroen van Vliet Trio and the Jeroen van Vliet Electric Trio.
In 2008 the new group Estafest started: energetic, exciting and adventurous.
After receiving the Composition Assignment of the North Sea Jazzfestival 2008, van Vliet invited his group – called Sikeda – that performed his music, to record and tour in 2010.
In 2013 he worked in South Africa with bass-legend Carlo Mombelli. He travelled to Australia, India, China, South-Korea with Gatecrash and the Yuri Honing quartet.
Currently Jeroen van Vliet works with German-Afghan singer Simin Tander, Jeroen van Vliet's OGU, solo, Estafest, Eric Vloeimans' Gatecrash, and the Udo Pannekeet 4tet.
In 2014 he released 2 albums, the solo-album 'Wait' and the trio-cd OGU.
The new album 'Eno Supo' by Estafest, as well as the albums 'Where water travels home' by Simin Tander 4tet and 'On' by Udo Pannekeet were released. All got great reviews.
In 2014 Jeroen van Vliet was awarded the most important prize in the Netherlands for jazz and improvised music, The Boy Edgar Prijs.
Eric Vloeimans has been active in a wide variety of ensembles all over the years. He has toured the US twice with his acoustic ‘chamber/jazz’ 'Fugimundi' trio, featuring the surprising Anton Goudsmit on guitar and rising star Harmen Fraanje on piano. Their broad repertoire ranges from contemporary jazz, hymns, world music to occasional standards, all of which is presented with warmth and wit. His other band is Eric Vloeimans' Gatecrash, which features soundscape master Jeroen van Vliet on Fender Rhodes and keyboards, the inventive Gulli Gudmundsson on bass, electric basses and effects, and the up and coming Jasper van Hulten on drums. Vloeimans expands his trumpet mastery with electronics special effects. Gatecrash has earned a reputation as one of Europe's top cross-over bands between jazz and pop. The music ranges from lazy lounge music to hard core uptempo beats and spaced out moods, with Zappa-influenced odd meters. It's a band that sweeps the audience away. Gatecrash has toured throughout Europe, Asia and the USA.
Vloeimans' performances and recordings with a multitude of other formations has shown his versatility. His musical talent, easy-going attitude and great sense of humour have brought him to play with national and international artists such as Mercer Ellington, John Taylor, Peter Erskine, The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Jasper van 't Hof, Wayne Horvitz, Charlie Mariano, Nguyên Lê, Jimmy Haslip, Philippe Catherine, Joey Baron, the Holland Baroque Society, Lars Danielsson, Michael Moore, Tuur Florizoone, the Matangi Quartet, Bojan Z., Eric Vaarzon Morel, Martin Fondse, soundartist Michel Banabila, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and many, many others.
His most recent cd is with German pianist Florian Weber, an astonishing performance “Live at the Concertgebouw” recorded in April 2011. That year saw Eric do seven concerts in that venerable institution – four concerts in the recital hall and three in the large hall, all of which were on a carte blanche basis. He performed with the Metropole Orchestra, the Marinierskapel (the Navy Band), the Paradiso Ochestra – his other forays into the classical world include a world premiere of a new trumpet concerto “Evensong” (written by Eric and Martin Fondse) which he performed with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra on October 26th and 30th 2011.
Eric has also ventured into film music, writing (with Fons Merkies) and performing the music for the feature film “Majesteit” (premiered in September 2010), as well as for the animation film “Audition” (with Martin Fondse).
His musical collaborations have taken Eric Vloeimans abroad many times. With diverse artists and ensembles he played all over Europe, Indonesia, China, the Middle East, South Africa and Japan. Experiences from his travels influence his music constantly and can be heard in many of his compositions.
Recently he was asked to perform a solo trumpet intermezzo at the reknowned “TED-x” conference in Amsterdam that left the audience quite speechless.
He has been honored because of his many works, in all possible genres that cover the range from classical to pop, film music, world and jazz. In between playing all over the world, being on tour and picking up Edison Awards, he shares his talent with the students of the Codarts College for the Arts in Rotterdam, and the Royal Conservatory in the Hague.
Eric Vloeimans plays from the heart and has shown a remarkable power to create bridges and reach the hearts of audiences all over the world.
Kinan Azmeh: Clarinet, Composer, Hailed as a “Virtuoso” and “Intensely Soulful” by the New York Times and “Spellbinding” by the New Yorker, and “Incredibly Rich Sound” by the CBC. His utterly distinctive sound across different musical genres has gained him international recognition as clarinetist and composer. Kinan was recently named composer-in-residence with Classical Movements for the 2017-2018 season.
Kinan has been touring the world as soloist, composer and improviser. Notable appearances include: Opera Bastille, Paris; Tchaikovsky Grand Hall, Moscow; Carnegie Hall and the UN’s general assembly, New York; the Royal Albert hall, London; Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires; der Philharmonie; Berlin; the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Washington DC; the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and the Damascus opera house for its opening concert in his native Syria.
He has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic and the Syrian Symphony Orchestra among others.; and has shared the stage with Yo-Yo Ma, Marcel Khalife, Aynur, Daniel Barenboim and Jivan Gasparian.
His compositions include several works for solo, orchestra, and chamber music; film, live illustration, and electronics. His discography include three albums with his ensemble Hewar, several soundtracks for film and dance, a duo album with pianist Dinuk Wijeratne and an album with his New York Arabic/Jazz quartet the Kinan Azmeh CityBand. He serves as artistic director of the Damascus Festival Chamber Players, a pan-Arab ensemble dedicated to contemporary music form the Arab world. His is a frequent guest faculty at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music and is on the advisory board of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. He is also a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble with whom he was awarded a Grammy in 2017.
Kinan is a graduate of New York’s Juilliard school as a student of Charles Neidich, and of both the Damascus High institute of Music where he studied with Shukry Sahwki, Nicolay Viovanof and Anatoly Moratof, and Damascus University’s School of Electrical Engineering in his native Syria. Kinan earned his doctorate degree in music from the City University of New York in 2013.
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