Iris Tjoonk

 

Iris Tjoonk (*1992) began trombone lessones with Hans Schippers at the age of nine. At the age of thirteen, she also began to follow piano- and composition lessons with José de Bree. Iris was  accepted by the Conservatory of Amsterdam at the age of 16 for the preliminary phase of the trombone and composition departments. She studied trombone with Ivan Meylemans, Pierre Volders, Remko de Jager and Jörgen van Rijen; and composition with Willem Jehts, Joël Bons and Wim Henderickx. In June 2015 she graduated in Amsterdam for the Bachelor of Music on trombone. 

Playing the tenor and alto trombone, Iris joined several orchestras and ensembles, such as ‘Jong Trombone Collectief’, NDR-Discover Music 2015, an educational project of the ‘Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest’, 'Deutsche Philharmonie Bonn' and ‘Van Wassenaer Consort’. With these groups she performed in the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Sparkassen-Arena (Kiel), de Doelen (Rotterdam), Muziekcentrum Enschede and Wiener Musikverein.

Iris performed as a soloist on occasions as diverse as the ‘Grachtenfestival’ (Amsterdam, 2012) and ‘Frankfurter Musik Messe’. In 2012, she received the second prize in the regional finals of the Prinses Christina Concours. In 2014 she played in the Utrecht Earlymusic Festival in the Juilliard masterclasses with ensemble 'Vento Vivimus'. 

Iris followed masterclasses with: Bart van Lier, Michel Becquet, Joseph Alessi, Ian Bousfield, David Bruchez, Jonas Bylund, Weston Sprott, Blair Bollinger, Jamie Williams and Niels-Ole Bo Johansen.

In 2012, Iris participated in an early music summercourse on authentic instruments with the Caecilia concert, including a performance at the Utrecht Early Music Festival. Ever since, she has continued to play early music in ensembles. Since 2014, Iris has followed ensemble lessons with David Staff. She began also having lessons with Adam Woolf at the Conservatory of Utrecht in september 2014. 

Iris also followed masterclasses with Daniel Lassalle, Wim Becu, Dominic Theresi, Phoebe Carrai, Arno Paduch, Veronika Skuplik and Adam Woolf.

Next to her passion for trombone, Iris is also a successful composer. (see under about-composer)