Jörgen van Rijen

Who is Jörgen van Rijen?

Jörgen van Rijen is Principal Trombone at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He is also a key member of young Dutch trombone ensemble, New Trombone Collective and Professor of Trombone at the Rotterdam Conservatorium where he studied as a teenager.

Jörgen started playing trombone aged 8 and from age 16 he learned at the Rotterdam Conservatory under educational director George Wiegel. In his first year he studied Physics in addition before he was sure of following a career in music. During his studies, Jörgen spent three months with Michel Becquet, solo trombone player and teacher at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon where he also studied baroque trombone with Daniel Lassalle.

After briefly playing principal trombone with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, he joined the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the same position in 1997.

He won several prizes and competitions, including the first prize at the International Trombone Competition in Toulon, France in 2001, the first prize at the International Trombone Competition in Guebwiller, France 1999, the first prize at the Holliday-Inn/ClassicFM Competition 1997 and the first prize at the National Soloist Contest for young music talents in 1994. He was also laureate of the International Brass Competition of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia.