flute
oboe
clarinet
mandolin
guitar
harp
piano
percussion
violin
viola
cello
double bass

 

Harrie Starreveld
Ernest Rombout
Anna voor de Wind
Hans Wesseling
Helenus de Rijke
Ernestine Stoop
Paolo Gorini
Herman Halewijn
Angel Gimeno or Emi Ohi Resnick
Frank Brakkee
Jeroen den Herder
Dario Calderone



Harrie Starreveld (flutes, The Netherlands) studied flute with Koos Verheul at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. Today Harrie Starreveld is widely regarded as one of the worlds leading specialists in contemporary flute music, working with composers such as Carter, Donatoni, Ferneyhough, Yun, Boulez, Crumb, Harvey, Tan Dun, Loevendie, Weddington and Ton de Leeuw. He is a member of the Nieuw Ensemble since 1982. Together with René Eckhardt and bass-clarinetist Harry Sparnaay he forms Het Trio. As a soloist he performed a large number of flute concertos and worked with conducters such as Ernest Bour, Hans Vonk, Arturo Tamayo and Reinbert de Leeuw. Since 1980, Starreveld has been professor of flute at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and Bremen, regularly gives masterclasses all over the world. He won the prestigious Edison award in 1993 for his CNM Ton de Leeuw-CD and worked at the computer music studios of IRCAM in Paris.

Ernest Rombout (musette/oboe/cor anglais) studied oboe with Heinz Holliger at the Freiburg Musikhochschule. He graduated with distinction and subsequently took lessons with Maurice Bourgue and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In 1983 he made his debut as a soloist in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and has since performed with renowned orchestras and ensembles such as the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna String Soloists, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra and Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Inspired by his playing, young composers such as Luca Francesconi, Claudio Ambrosini and David del Puerto have written new works for him. Ernest Rombout has taught the oboe as principal study at the Utrecht Conservatory since1985 and also regularly gives master classes and workshops. In 1998 he sat on the jury of the international oboe competition in Geneva. Ernest Rombout has been a member of the Nieuw Ensemble since 1985.

Anna voor de Wind ((bass)clarinet, The Netherlands) studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Hans Colbers and bassclarinet with Erik van Deuren, graduating cum laude from her Master studies in 2010. In 2011 she completed the International Ensemble Modern Academy and received a Master in Modern music at the Hochschüle of Frankfurt. Anna has a very wide range of work experience, working as a freelancer with many professional orchestras and contemporary music ensembles as well as music-theatre companies. Examples include the Asko Schoenberg Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Ives Ensemble, Veenfabriek and Ensemble Modern. Anna has taken part in many national and international competitions, academies and masterclasses. Anna is active in two ensembles: Looptail and the Amsterdam Collage Ensemble.

Hans Wesseling (mandolin, The Netherlands) started playing the mandolin when he was eight years old. He studied guitar with Pieter van der Staak and lute with Gusta Goldschmidt. From 1974 through 1979 he was lutist of Studio Laren, an ensemble specializing in medieval and renaissance music. Hans Wesseling has been the mandolin player of the Nieuw Ensemble since its foundation in 1980. Together with Hans van Gelderen he is part of the duo Troubadeux. With Gruppo Tarantella he performs Sicilian folk and Italian pop music.

Helenus de Rijke (guitar, The Netherlands) started playing the guitar when he was eight years old. His first teacher was the renowned Dutch guitar pedagogue Gerard Gest. At the age of eighteen, de Rijke studied Latin and Greek at the University of Amsterdam. He soon decided however to devote his life to musis. He took up the guitar again, this time as a student at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. After his graduation in 1978, he and two fellow students formed the Amsterdam Guitar Trio, with which he has performed all over the world. For this trio he has made a large number of succesful transcriptions. Helenus de Rijke joined the Nieuw Ensemble in 1981.

Ernestine Stoop (harp, The Netherlands) studied at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. She continued her studies with harpist Pierre Jamet and violinist Sandor Végh. After playing for 11 years with the Radio Filharmonic Orchestra, she is now dedicating herself fully to playing as a solist, chamber music and teaching. Stoop is a member of the Nieuw Ensemble and Asko Ensemble and teaches at the Royal College of Music in the Hague and the High School of Music in Tilburg. As a soloist she  performed with conductors such as Hans Vonk, Ernest Bour, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, David Porcelijn and Ed Spanjaard. She has enjoyed numerous and productive sessions with composers such as Mauricio Kagel, Isang Yun, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Elliott Carter, Louis Andriessen, Franco Donatoni, Theo Loevendie, Guo Wenjing and Guus Janssen preparing their compositions for first performances.

Herman Halewijn (percussion) studied with Frans van der Kraan and Wim Vos at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He later followed ‘non-Western rhythm’ master classes with Bob Becker. Since 1983 he has been a member of the Nieuw Ensemble. Halewijn is frequently invited to perform with leading contemporary music ensembles in the Netherlands and abroad, such as the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble, The Hague Percussion, the Ebony Band and Das Neue Ensemble in Hannover. He also regularly performs as a timpanist in various baroque orchestras, including Concerto d'Amsterdam and the Utrecht Domcantorij.

Angel Gimeno (violin) was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He studied the violin with Michèle Auclair in Paris and Evgenia Tchugaeva in Moscow. In the 1980s he began his career as a soloist, appearing with Venezuelan orchestras and later also receiving invitations to perform in the Netherlands. Besides the traditional soloist repertoire with orchestra, Gimeno is also actively involved in performing and propagating new musical trends in Europe. He has recorded various CDs, notably a recording featuring twentieth-century Dutch music for harp and violin. Angel Gimeno has been a member of the Nieuw Ensemble since 1990.

Frank Brakkee (viola) has been a member of the Nieuw Ensemble since 1993. He is principal violist of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and also joined the Franciscus Quartet in 2002. In this way he is involved with every facet of the viola repertoire, not only across the range of historical periods but also in every conceivable instrumental formation (solo, chamber music, ensembles and orchestras). His repertoire also includes the major solo concertos. Frank Brakkee studied with Nobuko Imai, Prunella Pacey and Ron Ephrat in Utrecht, graduating with distinction. He subsequently followed master classes with Tabea Zimmermann, Thomas Riebl and Isabelle van Keulen. He shares his position in the Nieuw Ensemble with Vincent Peters.

Jeroen den Herder (cello) studied with Maria Hol in Zwolle and Dmitri Ferschtman in Amsterdam. He was awarded the highest possible mark at his final exam, graduating with distinction. He also took lessons with the celebrated cellist Natalia Gutman and has won various awards. Jeroen den Herder was formerly leader of the cello octet Conjunto Ibérico under the direction of Elias Arizcuren, performing with this ensemble at internationally acclaimed festivals in Prague, Berlin, Bergen (Norway), St Petersburg and Madrid. He has given concerts with Yo-Yo Ma, Anner Bijlsma and Teresa Berganza. Jeroen den Herder teaches cello as principal study at the Utrecht Conservatory. He plays on a cello made by Jaap Bolink, on loan to him from the collection of the Netherlands Musical Instrument Foundation. He has been a member of the Nieuw Ensemble since January 2000 and has also been a cellist with the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra since 2004.

Dario Calderone (double bass, The Netherlands/Italy) graduated in S. Cecilia conservatory of Rome in 2002 with maximum marks with prof. Massimo Giorgi, and Franco Petracchi. After a period spend in different orchestras as solo doublebass, he dedicated almost entirely to the music of the last fifty years, studying with Stefano Scodanibbio and Uli Fussenegger. He is member of Ensemble Algoritmo (it) and Ensemble Laboratorium (ch) and regularly collaborates with various international ensembles, working in close contact with composers such as Salvatore Sciarrino, Beat Furrer, George Aperghis and I. Fedele. In 2010 he founded duo CO2 together with flutist Riccarda Caflisch. He performed many premieres and many solo pieces were dedicated to him. In 2002 he won the “Werther Benzi” solo double bass competition, and in 2006 he got the Stipendiumpreis of the IMD of Darmstadt.