musicologist & musician

As a musicologist & musician, I often add a musical layer to my research, for example by live performances at conferences and YouTube videos to accompany published articles. Next to that, I started recording my music for physical albums. Currently I am working on a solo album with musical collages in which the ‘cello gives voice to various mythological Water Women. During the COVID lockdown, I recorded HomeStrung , which was followed by Medievalisms, at the end of 2023. I am still selecting pieces for the final LP record of The Fipple Flutist.

Musical Resumé

Since my teenage years, I have been playing solo and chamber music at concerts and festivals. With the Storioni Trio Amsterdam, the Escher Trio and Conjunto Ibérico. And with the Valerius Ensemble, for whom I built websites in between. At my performances I play classical, folk and self-composed musics on piano, cello, flute, and other instruments. To bring the music closer to the people I also like to make music in unexpected places, therefore I organised series like Barok in the Bieb (“baroque in the library”) and events like The Day of the Gamba with Ralph Rousseau.

Besides a MA in musicology, I have studied piano (major) and cello (minor) in Tilburg (preparatory course), Utrecht (BAMus) and St. Petersburg (MAMus). As a laureate of various competitions (such as the Euregio Klavier Wettbewerb), I played at larger stages (such as the Concertgebouw, De Doelen, the Hermitage and so on), but what I enjoy most is to make people happy in a more intimate setting, for example at a house concert, in our church or in a library.

I also like to participate in festivals and performed at the Festival Oude Muziek, Bachfestival Dordrecht, November Music and Anno Domini, to name a few. Moreover, as a certified teacher, I teach the piano in the Utrecht area, specializing in children with autism, about which I also regularly give guest lectures (among others at the conservatories of Utrecht and Amsterdam, the University of Utrecht and Leiden University).

Musical Ensembles

In my free time, I love to make music with other people. Above, you’ll hear my ‘cello and me adding some “Arabic” notes to hard rock. 😉 My ensemble history is quite broad. At this moment, I am proud to be a member of the Domcantorij, the choir + orchestra of the Domkerk in Utrecht (the Netherlands).

As a guest and studio musician, I played for various pop, rock and folk formations. I also created soundtracks for film and TV, and published two books with English and Irish Duets (for violin and for cello duet), two books with baroque music for keyboard instruments, and various pieces for cello solo, string quartet, cello and piano etc. in Encore!Magazine. Nowadays, most of my arrangements and recordings are to support either my (academic) writing or my singing in the Domcantorij.

Concerts

Besides the concerts with the Domcantorij, I regularly play in hospitals, refugee centres, and elderly houses in the Utrecht area (as a volunteer). Last summer, I did a series of Ghibli film music and the Dutch national radio channel made a short item about this: