Jonathan Roozeman

The Finnish-Dutch cellist Jonathan Roozeman is already establishing himself as a cellist of exceptional musical integrity. He has worked with orchestras including The Mariinsky Orchestra, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Tokyo New City Orchestra, and has collaborated with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Sakari Oramo, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Osmo Vänskä, Dima Slobodeniouk, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Santtu-Matias Rouvali. 

Engagements in 2018/19 include his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Dalia Stasevska, Suntory Hall’s Ark Classic Festival which will include chamber performances with Fumiaki Miura and Nobuyuki Tsujii, Verbier Festival’s Schloss Elmau Residency where he will perform the rarely played Monn Concerto as well as appearing in recital, Japan and Helsinki Philharmonic orchestras, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Oulu Symphony Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, and he makes his debut recital tour in Canada which includes the Vancouver Recital Series. Jonathan will also be presented in recital at the Berlin Konzerthaus and appears there earlier this season as part of Sir András Schiff’s residency. 

Recent festivals include White Nights in St Petersburg – both in recital and concerto, Schleswig Holstein, Shanghai Festival and Tammisaari Festival where he performed Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No.1 under Jukka-Pekka Saraste as well as a project entitled ​“Bach cello suites re-imagined” for cello and bass guitar in collaboration with Lauri Porra. Last season — as part of a joint project with the Sibelius Academy and the Juilliard School — Jonathan performed Salonen’s Mania under the composer in Helsinki, the 2017 Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm and made his concerto debut at New York’s Lincoln Center. Jonathan was recently artist in residence with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, which featured him in concertos, including those by Vieuxtemps and Shostakovich, as well as chamber performances. Other engagements have included his debut with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic, Mikkeli Festival and he toured to Beijing for the ​‘Super Cello’ Festival performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto No.1 with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra. 

Jonathan was one of the International Tchaikovsky-Competition Prize winners in 2015 (youngest candidate) and in 2012 he was second prize-winner in the Dutch National Cello Competition. He has also been a finalist in the 2015 Naumburg International Cello Competition as well as the 2013 Porto Premio Suggia and in the same year he reached the semi-finals of the Finnish Paulo competition.

Jonathan is currently studying at the Kronberg Academy under Frans Helmerson. Prior to this he was a student of Martti Rousi at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He plays a David Tecchler cello (1707) on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation. His bow is made by Dominique Peccatte in Paris, 1835, kindly on loan by an American patron.