"Josje ter Haar, violinist with the Ives Ensemble, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Das Neue Ensemble Hannover and the Residentie Bachorkest.

"My first violin lessons I had as a child in Curaçao, together with my brother Job. There were no violin makers there and our instruments had to be purchased on holidays in the Netherlands. At the Royal Conservatoire I came in contact with Pieter Moerenhout from the NMF after several "violin wanderings". At that moment he had received a violin that had been in the cupboard for years after an injury from the original player. Out of nostalgia I have always let the old-fashioned chin keeper sit on it, sometimes to the astonishment of my colleagues "can you play with that?"

I remember very well that I heard "my" violin for the first time. It has a very light, bird-like sound that immediately makes you happy, while it sounds full in the low. It speaks very easily and has a narrow neck, so it is fine in my small hands. Job and I had a CD recording with the Iron Trio Holland that week and I wanted to play immediately on the new instrument for me.

Job and I are still playing together in the Ives Ensemble. Emma Breedveld, our colleague and Jobs friend, also plays a violin from the National Musical Instruments Fund. This way the Fund supports our entire family!"

"-Muziekinstrumenten Fonds (Translated by Google) (https://www.muziekinstrumentenfonds.nl/59/josje-ter-haar/?id=58)
6/25/2025

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Job Ter Haar: "I'm a cellist based in Amsterdam. I play mostly chamber music, on modern and period instruments. My groups include: the Van Swieten Society, the Ives Ensemble, Musica ad Rhenum and Floreal String Quartet. I am also working as a research coach at Codarts Rotterdam."

"John Snijders was born in Heemskerk (the Netherlands) in 1963. He studied at the Royal Conservatory The Hague with Geoffrey Madge (piano), Stanley Hoogland (fortepiano) and Louis Andriessen (composition).

In 1985 he won first prize at the Berlage Competition for Dutch chamber music. He performed as soloist with a.o. the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, The Brussels Philharmonic, The Hague Philharmonic, Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Chamber Orchestra and Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra. From 1988 until 2013 he was a member of the Nieuw Ensemble Amsterdam. In 1986 he founded the Ives Ensemble, of which he continues to be pianist and artistic director. Since 2013 he is a member of the contemporary music groups Ensemble7Bridges and E7B Soundlab.

Both as a soloist and with these groups he has performed extensively at most major music festivals in Europe such as Festival d'Automne (Paris) Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), Wien Modern (Vienna), Ars Musica (Brussels), Musica (Strasbourg), Settembre Musica (Turin), Bienale di Venezia (Venice).

Furthermore he has worked extensively as a rehearsal coach for Netherlands Opera, Dutch Travel Opera, Holland Festival, WDR Köln, English National Opera. In 2008 he was teacher of piano and chamber music at the Festival Internacional de Inverno de Campos de Jordão (Brazil). Also in 2008 he was awarded the Muziekgebouw Prize 2008 for the performance of NYConcerto for piano and chamber orchestra by Richard Rijnvos.

Several composers wrote pieces especially for him such as Gerald Barry, Christopher Fox, Richard Rijnvos, Gerard Brophy, Ivo van Emmerik, Rodney Sharman, Richard Ayres and Clarence Barlow.

Since January 2013 he is head of Music Performance at Durham University.

His research interests focus on piano performance practice in the 19th century, the American avant-garde, especially Morton Feldman and John Cage, music of extended duration, establishing connections between contemporary music and contemporary visual arts, and sound art."