Jörgen van Rijen trombone

Award Winner 2006

Besides his work as the principal trombonist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Jörgen van Rijen has become a frequently requested soloist with a special commitment to promote his instrument and develop new repertoire for the trombone. He has played recitals in most European countries, as well as the United States, Japan and Australia and has appeared as a soloist with various orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2004 he was awarded the prestigious Netherlands Music Prize, the highest distinction in the field of music from the Dutch Ministry of Culture. He won several other prizes, including first prizes at the international trombone competitions of Toulon and Guebwiller. In a review for his first CD (Channel Classics), music magazine 'Luister' wrote: 'Van Rijen is a real ambassador of his instrument, which is still not often used as a virtuosic brass instrument among composers. But there are not that many trombonists that reach the brilliant level of Van Rijen. In sound, dynamic, color, musical understanding and expressiveness Van Rijen is unequalled...'. Future engagements include solo performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which commissioned a Trombone Concerto for him by the leading Dutch composer Theo Verbey, and performances of the trombone solo of Mahler’s 3rd symphony with the Luzern Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado in Luzern, London and New York. Besides this, Jörgen teaches at the Rotterdam Conservatory and is an active chamber musician. He was one of the founders of the New Trombone Collective and the RCO Brass and is artistic leader of both of these ensembles.

Photograph taken by Marco Borggreve