Alumnus and CvA teacher Joris Roelofs has received the North Sea Jazz Festival composition assignment. Each year, the North Sea Jazz Festival commissions a promising Dutch jazz composer to write a free composition. In 2016, the honour goes to clarinetist and composer Joris Roelofs. The jury motivates its decision to award Joris Roelofs the Composition Assignment as follows: ‘Joris Roelofs stands out with his distinctive and unique sound. The variations in his pieces create a contemporary, genuine and mature sound. The listener is taken into a new world in an organic way.’ The composition assignment will premiere on Friday July 8 in Madeira.
Joris Roelofs graduated from the jazz master’s degree programme at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2007. As of this year, he teaches (bass) clarinet as a principal subject at the CvA’s Jazz Department.