2024

Conservatory of Amsterdam with Jan Spronk, Pauline Austria, Ernest Rombout, and Codarts Rotterdam with Maarten Dekkers and Aisling Casey.

Top five in no particular order: Mahler, Strauss (Johann and family), Schumann, Ravel, Richard Strauss.

At home and on the road there is always music on; I can't imagine life without music. Besides classical music, I listen a lot to pop music from the 60s/70s, symphonic rock, heavy metal, and I have a great love for (military) wind music because of my grandfather (who was a soldier). Yet I also love silence: so I can often be found in nature where, armed with my camera and telephoto lens, I try to capture the most beautiful birds on film.

I started taking oboe lessons at the age of nine because of the special sound of the oboe. When one day a substitute teacher brought along his cor anglais I instantly fell in love with that instrument and had to and would someday play cor anglais . Meanwhile, I still prefer to play it; not only because of its beautiful sound, but especially because of the special role that cor anglais has in the orchestra. I play an instrument built by the German firm Mönnig.