Home

Andreas Suntrop

Andreas Suntrop (1966) studied jazz/popular music at the Rotterdam Conservatory. He plays in various jazz formations, including New Niks, Jasper le Clercq 4, Busy, Busy, Busy, GAP and Elizabeth Simonian 5. Andreas has worked with Carel Kraayenhof, Eric Vloeimans, Jasper le Clercq, Pieter de Mast, Keimpe de Jong, John Buijsman, Mimezine, Oene van Geel, Arend Niks, Mijke Loeven, Vera van der Poel, Elizabeth Simonian, Maarten Ornstein, and Zapp4. He worked as a composer/musician for the RO Theater, Rotterdam Foundation The Connection, Theater Aluin, Growing Up In Public. John Buijsman, Keimpe de Jong and Andreas Suntrop made several musical theater productions. Photo Cees van de Ven

Andreas lives with Gabby Bakker who teaches actors in training at the HKU, DOX and Codarts. Besides her theater-activities she sings in/with different formations and bands.

Shirma Rouse

Her talent for music has been nurtured at an early age. Her family played an important role in developing her talent. Her father, a well-known instrumentalist, was one of her biggest inspirations. Accompanying her grandmother to church and singing in church would form, unknown to her, the steps towards her current career.

Born on the island of Curacao and raised on the island of St.Eustatius, she built her career as a musician in the Netherlands. Her introduction to the Dutch music scene started when she was asked to become a backing vocalist of the group Tasha’s World. She moved on to performing, recording and touring with a wide range of artists from every genre. Chaka Khan, Michael Bolton, Metropole Orkest, Intwine, Extince, Wouter Hamel, Candy Dulfer, Alain Clark, Anouk, Glennis Grace, Randal Corsen, Tribute 2 Bob Marley, Carlo de Wijs. Photo Thomas van Beek

Niek de Bruijn

Niek de Bruijn(1991) is one of the most demanded drummers in The Netherlands. Musicians prize him for his creativity and his energetic, dynamic playing.

Over the past few years Niek has performed with artists and groups like Biréli Lagrène, The Metropole Orchestra, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Roby Lakatos, Andreas Varady, Giovanca, Pete Philly, Re:freshed Orchestra, Jorge Vistel and many others. He toured with the ‘Nationaal Jeugd Jazz Orkest‘, JM Jazz World Orchestra, and played several times at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

Nowadays, Niek is the fixed drummer of ‘The Houdini’s’, 'IDENTIKIT', 'Roby Lakatos', 'Kim Hoorweg', ‘Bird Lives!’, 'Bianculli Band', 'Stephanie Francke Quartet', ‘Marjorie Barnes’, 'L'ENFANT' and others.

In 2013 Niek was the winner of the prestigious Erasmus Jazz Prize. Photo MajankaFotografie

Eric Vloeimans

Vloeimans initially studied classical music at the Rotterdam Academy of Music. He switched to jazz and graduated with distinction in 1988 and continued his studies in New York. He practices classical studies to keep his technique up to scratch; enabling him to shape his improvisational ideas; putting classical music at the service of jazz.

Besides being active with major Dutch jazz figures (including pianist Michiel Borstlap and cellist Ernst Reijseger) since 1989, Vloeimans has been involved in numerous international projects.

In 2003 he received the most prestigious Dutch jazz award, the VPRO/Boy Edgar Award. Two recent albums have won him the highest award for music in the Netherlands; the Edison Award.
Photo Maurits Giesen

Omri Tindal

Omri Tindal (1986) is a phenomenal talented singer/song writer, composer and dancer, born and raised in Rotterdam. Starting at the age of 16 he worked for 5 years with the close harmony group “Delighted". During this time he also performed with international singer/song writer and producer Bilal and worked with top producer Giorgio Tuinfort. In his early 20’s Omri became part of the theatre group “Soul Brother”. They toured around Holland for two years, performed at Holland largest locations (Carré and Heineken Music Hall a.o) and appeared on national TV. As a performer Omri made an appearance in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Spain, Turkey and Atlanta (USA). Omri participated in a Dutch live TV show called “The Voice of Holland”. He was also at the Dutch TV channels Nederland 3 (DWDD), TV Rijnmond, RTL5 (Killer Karaoke), Radio538 and FunX, and he will be playing in awarded musical sensation ‘Jersey Boys’ with music like Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons. Photo Wim Barzilay

Paulo Bouwman

Paulo Bouwman (1986, Portugal) started playing the guitar at 11. Quickly following: piano, cavaquinho (a kind of ukulele), drums, saxophone, bass and electric guitar. He chose the guitar as main instrument for his education at Codarts, Rotterdam.

Paulo is a fabulous and wanted musician. The ‘Paulo Bouwman Trio’ (Paulo Bouwman: guitars, Rayley Janga: bass, Tuur Moens: drums) plays a warm and rhythmical mix, born to captivate the crowd. Next to Cape Verdean and Brasilian music he is also engaged in Jazz, Pop and Soul. With ‘Rabasa’ he plays guitar, vocals and percussion, at ‘Trio Sodade’ he plays the 7-string guitar. He regularly cooperates with musicians like Dina Medina, Tito Paris, Lilian Vieira, and Evita Tjon A Ten. At The Guitaracademy he teaches South-American, Cape Verdean, Jazz, Pop and Classical music, on acoustic and electric guitar. Besides his music, he is part of the mangement team of North Sea Round Town, and is involved in organizing Cape Verdian Festivals, like São João Festival. Photo Teresa Almeida

Carlo Balemans

Carlo Balemans (1963) is a creative artist, conductor, teacher and composer. He works at Codarts Rotterdam, University for the Arts. He has been a guest conductor for the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Carroll College Wind Symphony and many other ensembles.

“Meet, Inspire & Celebrate” is the basis of Carlo’s way of working. He has a great interest in people and their talents. He worked with world top performers like Eric Vloeimans, Bojan Zulfikarpasic, Conny Janssen Danst. He loves to facilitate spaces in which these top end musicians meet other musicians from all different backgrounds, ages and levels. To inspire one another by being together, celebrating life and creating great Sound Trips. "Carlos Sound Trip" is the result of 30 years of working. A Sound Trip is a Big Bang of classical and experimental music, jazz, hiphop and video.
He lives with Marjolein den Adel. She’s a singer/songwriter. She also works with special needs children. Photo Hiphoplady Doree

Jan Dumee

Dutch composer and guitar-virtuoso Jan Dumee is widely acclaimed for his rich and surpising compositional work and guitar playing. His music is described as ‘very creative’, ‘non-conformist in approach’, ‘ear-tickling’ and ‘knowing no bounds’.

With ‘O Septeto Plus’ (with musicians from Brazil, Senegal, Argentina, Holland and Croatia) he recorded the album ‘Rodinha‘, recognized in 1998 as one of the best Dutch worldmusic productions. Until 2006 Jan played in ‘Focus’, with Dutch icons Thijs van Leer and Pierre van der Linden. In 2005 his solo-album ‘Rio on the Rocks‘ was released. He regularly works with musicians from Brasil, Holland, France and Germany. In 2007 Jan started OTR (On the rocks) with ex-Uriah Heep/Lucifer’s Friend singer John Lawton (first CD ‘Mamonama‘). Jan Dumee is involved in ‘The Cubrabop Quintet‘ (Cd 'Cubrabop'), he is part of ‘Dumee & Dijkgraaf Quinteto’ (cd ‘Heloisando’) and he works for the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra of Barra Mansa (Rio de Janeiro).

Ai Ming Oei

Ming (1985) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. Her music goes by the name of Ming's Pretty Heroes. So far Ming's Pretty Heroes released Ep Cut of from Gravity (Jan 2008), debut album Ok Mr. Mix (Sept 2009) and album Karma (Sept 2011).

Following the release of her debut album, Ming toured though Germany and China and was awarded the Music Matters Award. This award made her Rotterdam's Music Ambassador for 2011 and provided the financial aid to start recording second album "Karma". In 2012 and 2013 Ming’s Pretty Heroes toured with modern dance company Conny Janssen Danst. Especially for this show called "Meer Ruis", music of the Karma album was rewritten and rearranged. After over 40 shows in the Netherlands and in Switzerland, "Meer Ruis" was performed at theater festival de Parade as well as on Lowlands. In the meantime Ming released her third album: Roots and Bones. A collection of twelve songs that walk the line between intensity and simplicity. Photo Wim Barzilay

Keimpe de Jong

Keimpe de Jong (1957) is a saxophonist, composer and conductor living in Rotterdam. In 1981 he graduated from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He plays his saxophone in pop, jazz, brass- and worldmusic, but most of all in theaterproductions. De Jong has a passion for projects where these worlds mingle. With a variety of horn players from all over the world, especially from Suriname and the Antilles, he formed 'de Nazaten'.

The name of this orchestra echoes the music of the European harmony and fanfare bands. The repertoire stems from and elaborates on the many forms of world/windmusic, in which improvisation and dansability prevail. Music of which the origins cannot clearly be determined, and that came into existence thanks to the adultery of our royal forefathers, finding its prize on the dance floor, where love dawns, friendship is celebrated and differences in colour, status or origin don't matter.
Photo Eddy Westveer

Arend Niks

Arend Niks (Schiedam, August 10, 1960) is a percussionist and composer who, based on a pop background and with a fresh vision, plays jazz- and improvised- music. He often collaborates with guitarist Corrie van Binsbergen, in groups as 'Corrie en de (Grote) Brokken', KNVB and CRAM.
He also forms his own groups, such as 'Niks', 'Niks Project' en 'New Niks'. For these groups he writes most compositions, expressing his ideas about sound, shape, style and dynamic. He enjoys working with dancers and theatre, for example with 'Geen Deel' and 'Orkater', with whom he worked on two productions for the traveling theatre festival 'De Parade'.

Troost, van Bavel and Domaradzki (Sebastiaan van Bavel Trio)

Troost, van Bavel and Domaradzki form the Sebastiaan van Bavel Trio. Dynamic and curious, they love the crossover between Classic and Jazz music. Together, they develop their own style. They’ve been playing with musicians like Joey Calderazzo, Benjamin Herman, Marco Kegel and the Simon Rigter quartet.

Pianist and composer van Bavel found the ideal partners in Troost (drums) and Domaradzki (double bass). In 2014 the Sebastiaan van Bavel Trio presented their debut-album: As The Journey Begins. This album explains the musical and artistic journey that these three fantastic musicians are undertaking. The album contains eight of van Bavel's compositions. By intelligently linking the eight compositions the listener is compelled to also take this journey. The album marks the beginning of what undoubtedly will be a succesful career for both the trio and the individual musicians. Photo Felipe Pires

Ruud Bergamin

Ruud Bergamin is a saxophonist, composer, arranger, conductor and music teacher. He plays all types of saxophones and clarinet. Ruud picked up the saxophone at the age of 14, and started to perform in a band at 15. Since then, he played in several groups, such as Gijs Hendriks Orchestra, Utrechts Jazz Orchestra, Jazzmijn, De Boventoon and Nieuw Rotterdams Peil. Most important jazzstyles: neobop; bebop; mainstreamjazz; freejazz; improvised music; latinjazz; swing and groove music.

Ruud is a member of the bands 'Cruise Control' and 'Red Cool' (trio with soft sounding music), and he forms a duo with tango-pianist Wim Warman: 'TangoZZs'. He performs regularly at De Verandering; Galerie Kralingen (Rotterdam) and is a conductor of Big Bands and a leader of jazz workshops. During North Sea Round Town 2015 he will lecture about ‘100 year Billie Holiday' (together with Jaap Gerritse), and he will perform several times at various stages.

Akos Laki (Carlama)

He was born 1967 in Yugoslavia and studied classical clarinet, jazz saxophone and bass clarinet. He won several prices in Macedonia, Croatia, and Poland. In 1996 he was the winner of the Dutch Jazz Concours with his own Woodwind duo Double B. Akos plays tenor saxophone in Carlama. This Serbian word refers to a certain kind of wild dance as well as to a exuberant party. The musicians combine the rich Serbian brassband tradition with rhythms and melodies from all over the Balkan region, resulting in a steaming mix in which improvisation plays an important part. Hunting rhythms, furious trills, blazing ballads and a good sense of humour are the main ingredients in this group.

Currently Akos also plays in Laki Latino, Akos Laki Trio/Quartet, Double B and Double Band together with Stansilav Mitrovic, Klez-tetics, Global Village Orchestra and Panchito. In Rotterdam he's regularly involved in sessions in Dizzy, Bird en De Doelencafe. Photo Zsofi Bodnar

Laise Sanches

Laise, well-known as a member of 'Addlicious', is a singer/songwriter/entertainer living in the heart of Rotterdam. She made her debut as a 'backing vocalist' in 2002 with Tasha's World. At the age of 17 Laise was already travelling the world, gracing podiums in the cities of Africa, Europe and America with a plethora of national and international acts. Accompanying and collaborating with the likes of Chaka Khan, Michael Bolton, Bobby McFerrin, Wouter Hamel, Shirma Rouse, Giovanca, Do, Uniq, Winne, Kempi, Izaline Calister, Dina Medina, Boyge Mendes, Nelson Freitas and many more.

Last few years, Laise has slowly been stepping away from the 'backing vocalist' and making a jump start on her solo career. “An intricate work of art, she exudes a passion for life, rejoices in the sound of laughter, and embraces the notion of everlasting love in universal music. Her persona steals you and leads you to her sound, her music - passionate, energetic, honest - fun!” Photo Joke Schot

Piero Bianculli

Born in the south of Italy in 1978, Piero Bianculli grew up in the South of France where he began his musical career studying with French jazz masters like Robert Persil. In 2003 Piero continued his musical studies in Holland at the Rotterdam Conservatorium CODARTS where he met musicians that became good friends and so the Bianculli Trio became a fact!

After a few years, the Bianculli Trio won the Jazz Award in Rome in 2010. The band, with one of the best Horn sections Holland has to offer, finally got the perfect sound combination between jazz, pop, soul and original Italian music. Since then the Bianculli Band created a general interest in their music all around Europe playing already in Dutch jazz clubs and jazz festivals (Dizzy Rotterdam, North Sea Round Town) and a small beginning in Italy (Perbacco jazzclub, Taranto).

Eddy Nielsen

Eddy Nielsen (Rotterdam 1966) studied double bass at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He got his master in Music Theatre in 2003. Eddy has been working with various musicians. Every 3th Tuesday of the month he organizes a jazz session at Rotterdam Jazz cafe Dizzy. Besides that, he's busy composing songs for his first album. The album will be released in February 2016.

Eddy Nielsen is a real connoisseur of Jazz happenings in Rotterdam, and a welcome guest at Rotterdam Jazz cafes. His musician friends call him 'Eddy everywhere', because he is present at (almost) every Jazz session in Rotterdam. He is planning to show his ‘Wake up in Jazz’-visitor the inner side of the Rotterdam Jazz world! Photo Fred Ernst

Show map

Stephanie Francke

Stephanie Francke (1989) knew at young age that she wanted be a musician. She plays the alto- and soprano saxophone. She graduated from the conservatory of Rotterdam and won the Erasmus Jazz prize in 2012. She leads the Stephanie Francke Quartet, in april 2013 they released a debut album called 'Florigen'. The album features Koen Schalkwijk as the piano player, Thomas Pol on double bass, Niek de Bruijn on drums and Stephanie on saxophones. May 2015 Stephanie released her second album ‘Ripples’ with her quartet. This time it will feature Guus Bakker on double bass.

She played at, amongst other places, North Sea Jazz, the Bimhuis, Lowlands, the International Jazz Festival Middelburg and LantarenVenster. Jury Erasmus Jazz prize 2012: “We were impressed by Stephanie’s enchanting sound and beautiful compositions. Stephanie makes music that leaves you longing to hear more”. Jazzflits 2013: “Francke is a name to remember!” Photo Karen van Gilst

Quirijn Vos

Quirijn Vos started playing the trumpet when he was 8 years old. At the age of 14 his talent was noticed by his teacher Andre Heuvelman, who invited him to come to the Rotterdam Conservatory. He graduated Cum Laude in 2012. Among his private teachers: Eric Vloeimans, Simon Rigter, Marvin Stamm, Wim Both, Ad van Zon, Andre Heuvelman and Jarmo Hoogendijk. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 he has played at North Sea Jazz. In 2009 he and his band Raw Kandinsky won the Blue Note Demo contest and in 2010 the XL-jazz concours in Brussels. In 2011/12 he studied in Graz Austria with Jim Rotondi & Tobias Weidinger.

Currently, he plays with numerous artists: Blaudzun, Maria Schneider, Bryan Lynch, Ack van Rooyen, James Morisson, Bart van Lier, Izaline Callister, Hans Dulfer, and plays in clubs with DJ's like Hed Kandi (live), Erick E, Gregor Salto, La Fuente, Lucien Foort, Ziggy Stardust, Ricky Rivaro and Roog. Photo Kurt Vandeweerdt

Connected to North Sea Jazz and North Sea Round Town (June 26 - July 12 2015), Wake up in It offers visitors of these Jazz-festivals a personal match to a Rotterdam Jazz-artist. Overnight stay at the home/studio of the musician is included! Read more