Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Player Bios

Derek Reaban · Last edited by Derek Reaban on Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:58 pm; edited 1 time in total

Frits Damrow

Frits Damrow started to play the trumpet and flugelhorn at age nine in the local wind orchestra. He studied trumpet and piano at the Kerkrade music school and took part in several solo competitions.

After college he studied at the Maastricht Conservatory and continued his musical education with James Stamp (USA), Thomas Stevens (USA), and Pierre Thibaud (Paris).

From 1982 to 1991 he was principal trumpet of the Radio Symphony Orchestra of the Netherlands. In 1991 he became principal trumpet of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, a position he currently holds.
He has been engaged as professor of trumpet at the conservatories in Maastricht and Hilversum. Presently he is teaching at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, educating trumpet students from all over the world.

Frits Damrow has given workshops and masterclasses in many countries, including Germany, Austria, Italy, the USA and Japan. He is also an internationally performing soloist and his performances can be heard on several CD's.

Player bio taken from the ITG web site from 2004.
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Symphonic Wind Ensemble / Symphony of the Southwest

Derek Reaban · Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 11:29 pm Post subject:

Peter Masseurs

Peter Masseurs was born in Halsteren in the Dutch province of North Brabant. In 1963 he joined the Band of the Marines and in March 1970 he was appointed principal trumpet with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Beginning in 1982 he was appointed to the principal post with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He has been a soloist with this ensemble in performances of concertos by Haydn, Tomasi, Zimmermann and Shostakovich, and in September 2002 in Willem Jeths’ Concerto for Flugelhorn, which was commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and written especially for Masseurs.

He has also performed as a soloist with many other orchestras in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. He has played in a variety of ensembles including the ASKO-Schönberg Ensemble, the Viotta Ensemble, the Amsterdam Bach Soloists and the Ebony Band.

Player bio taken from Emile Meuffel’s web site from 2004.
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Symphonic Wind Ensemble / Symphony of the Southwest

Derek Reaban · Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 9:51 am Post subject:

Bert Langenkamp

Langenkamp studied trumpet at the “Twents Conservatorium” in Enschede with Herman Hopman then at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Peter Masseurs. He attended various masterclasses with Timofei Dokshitzer and others, and studied baroque trumpet with Susan Williams at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

He has played with many orchestras and ensembles such as the Ebony band, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Schönberg ensemble, the ASKO ensemble and the “De Volharding” Orchestra. From 1994 to 1995 he was a trumpet player with the “Gelders Orkest”.

In 1998 he was appointed principal trumpet with the Noordhollands Philharmonic Orchestra and since January 2001 he has played with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He regularly gives concerts with organ and is a member of the Concertgebouw’s brass ensemble.

Input for this bio provided by Emile Meuffels

Player bio taken from the ITG web site from 2004
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Symphonic Wind Ensemble / Symphony of the Southwest

Derek Reaban · Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 7:35 am Post subject:

Hans Alting

Hans Alting was born in Haarlem on May 24th, 1963. He studied at the Stedelijk Conservatorium in Groningen, with Freddy Grin and the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Klaas Kos. Before his graduation he joined the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1984.

As a soloist he formed a duo with organ player Piet Wiersma, with whom he gave numerous concerts between 1985 and 2000. In 1990 they brought out a solo CD with works of Tartini, Hertel and others which was recorded at the St. Bavo Church in Haarlem.

From 1983 until 1998 he was a member of the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, and in 1993 he was jointly responsible for bringing out a CD for brass ensemble on the Chandos label. Works on this CD include Leonard Bernstein's ‘West Side Story', and ‘Prelude, Fugue and Riffs'.

In 1994 he founded the Nederlands Fanfare Orkest, a large orchestra consisting of brass, saxophones and percussion, that is typical of the Dutch/Belgian musical culture. The NFO members are 35 top professionals from symphony and military orchestras, playing mostly under the inspiring leadership of Jacob Slagter.

In addition to being the NFO e-flat cornet player, he has been artistic manager since 1995. The NFO performs 4 times a year, including festivals and performances in the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1997 the CD ‘Avalon' was brought out by ‘de Haske' publishers. The Gala concert at the Wereld Muziek Concours 2001 in Kerkrade was recorded live on a double CD. The CD's included 3 new works that were commissioned by the NFO.

He is co-founder and member of the Brass of the RCO.

Player bio taken from the Brass of the Royal Concertgebouw website from 2005.
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Symphonic Wind Ensemble / Symphony of the Southwest

Derek Reaban · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:47 pm Post subject:

Theo Wolters

Theo Wolters was born in 1955 as the last of eleven children in a musical family in Melick, a small town in the south of The Netherlands.

At a very young age, Theo started to learn the trumpet in a local windband, led by his father.

Soon was clear that young Theo had an enormous musical talent and so he was to study music at the Conservatory in Maastricht. There he started studying the trumpet under the reknown Wim Groot, former solo-trumpet of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Before finishing his Conservatory studies, Theo Wolters was already solo-trumpet of the Overrijsels Philharmonisch, Enschede (Netherlands) and later alternate solo-trumpet of the Essener Philharmoniker, Essen (Germany) between 1975 and 1979.

From 1979 to 2008 Theo Wolters was a member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra trumpet section.

Here he has been working and recording with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Bernhard Haitink, Carlos Kleiber, Riccardo Chailly, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Mariss Jansons to name but a few.

In addition to his orchestral career, Theo Wolters studied conducting under Piet Stalmeier and Roberto Benzi.

As guest-conductor he worked with the Slovak State Symphony Orchestra, Tblisi Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Slovaka, Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra "George Enescu", Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra Seoul, Wonju Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea), New Westphalian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Nürnberger Symfoniker (Germany), the Dutch National Youth Orchestra, the Limburg Symphony Orchestra (Holland) and the Dutch Promenade Orchestra, where he was Principal Guest Conductor.

Theo Wolters is now the Principal Guest Conductor of the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Cluj and the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Sibiu, Romania.

Since 2004 Theo Wolters is Assistant-Conductor of Mariss Jansons at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam (Netherlands).

In June 2008 Theo succesfully took over two concerts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for Maestro Jansons. On this occasion he conducted Messiaen's epic Turangalila-symphony to great critical acclaim.

Player bio taken from the Theo Wolters website from 2009.
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Symphonic Wind Ensemble / Symphony of the Southwest

sonicgeo2 · Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:32 pm Post subject:

Bert Langenkamp is amazing!!!!!!!! Just thought I'd put that out there

Here is a good video of his solo playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqAo7bzadWM[/youtube]
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I didn't want to get that ring around my lips from practicing the trumpet, because I thought the girls wouldn't like me. So I never practiced.
-Wynton Marsalis

camel · Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:14 pm Post subject:

Both of the principal players will be quitting soon... Theo Wolters already stopped...

But they are all great players

kanstulpicc · Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:49 pm Post subject:

I don't think Frits Damrow is quitting, but Masseurs is.
Is there some new information on Damrow?

Maarten van Weverwijk · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:09 am Post subject:

kanstulpicc · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 7:40 pm Post subject:

Wow! Sorry Damrow is leaving, but maybe he has been doing that gig
long enough. I like his playing. Masseurs' as well.

I met Damrow at ITG 2008. Very nice fellow. Fine player.

kanstulpicc · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 7:43 pm Post subject:

One of my favorite orchestra recordings of all is the Bruckner 8
with Concertgebouw and Chailly. That opening to the forth movement
with the trumpets jumping in with the galloping horse figure is just
thrilling. Great sound -- body with sizzle. Perfect intonation and
ensemble.
http://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Symphony-No-8-Anton/dp/B0000665EV/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1257651868&sr=8-1

Also, great solo trumpet playing on Bruckner 6.
http://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Symphony-Nowak-Wolf-Goethe-Lieder/dp/B00000J9FT/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1257651914&sr=1-1