Gerretsen, Justine (1963-Present)

Oboist from Rotterdam who attended the Royal Conservatory at The Hague with all intentions of becoming a ballet dancer. She went so far as to graduate in 1981, but a back injury sidelined her dreams. So instead she decided to stay in school and take up the oboe. By 13^th February 1985, her chops were good enough to perform with the Symfonie-orkest van het Koninklijk Conservatorium in a program of Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Jean-Philippe Rameau, at the Schonbergzaal, Den Haag. She graduated (again) in 1987, this time as a performing musician.

In 1986, she joined the Northern Philharmonic Orchestra as deputy first oboe cor anglais and stayed with them until 1989. Then she became a member of the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra as their solo oboist.

Other groups with whom she has worked include the Beaufort Blaaskwintet, Kammerorchester des BayerischeRundfunks, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the Noord Nederlands Orkest, and the Schoenberg Ensemble.

On 21^st April 1990, the Beaufort Blaaskwintet presented a palette of Rudolf Escher, Leos Janacek, Gyorgy Ligeti, Salvatore Sciarrino and Theo Verbey.

Justine joined the faculty of the Utrecht Conservatory as a professor in 1991 and stayed there for four years. One of her students was Gerard van Andel, who went on to join her in the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1992, she appeared on The Schoenberg Ensemble’s CD, Louis Andriessen: De Staat. The Schoenberg Ensemble teamed up with the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra in October 1995 for an all-French affair that comprised Henri Dutilleux’s “Le Double”, Olivier Messiaen’s “Concert a quatre”, and Claude Vivier’s “Bouchara” at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

In the late ‘90s, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble was fairly busy in the recording studios and some of the CDs they released include: Beethoven, which featured the master’s “Octet for Winds in E flat major, Op. 103”, “Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn in E flat major, Op. 16”, and a wind arrangement of his “Symphony no 7 in A major, Op. 92”; Live, which was done in conjunction with The Hilliard Ensemble; and, Mozart Serenades.

The Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra and Groot Omroepkoor rang in the holidays with Roel van Oosten’s “Quatre Noels Anciens”, Arvo Part’s “Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten”, Alexandre Tansman’s oratorio, Isaie, le Prophete, and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on Christmas Carols” on 21^st December 2002.

On 28^th September 2003, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble supplied the music for De Schepping, a theatrical confection whipped up by Bart Moeyaert with music by Haydn and text by Joseph Triebensee. They offered up Mozart’s “Serenade in Bes, KV361” (“Gran Partita”) and the Dmitri Shostakovich-Dmitri Smirnov “Sonata voor altviool, acht blazers en contrabass” on 1^st December 2006.

On 5^th October 2007, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and Groot Omroepvrouwenkoor sandwiched Girolamo Abos’s Stabat Mater in between Haydn’s “Symfonie nr. 83 in g” (“La Poule”) and Jean-Philippe Rameau’s “Suite uit Nais”.

Kammerorchester des Bayerische Rundfunks appeared at the Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn for a concert of Max Bruch’s “Kol Nidrei”, Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante”, Shostakovich’s “Kammersinfonie op. 110a”, Dobrinka Tabakova’s “Suite in old Style” and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Andante Cantabile” and “Nocturne” on 27^th December 2007.

The same venue hosted the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic on 12^th September 2008 for their renditions of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s “Fluitconcert nr. 3”, Carolus Antonius Fodor’s “Symfonie nr. 4”, Haydn’s “Sinfoniaconcertante Hob.I/105”, and Mozart’s “Symfonie nr. 38 KV504” (“Prague”).

Two days later, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic reprised the Haydn and Mozart pieces in the great hall at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. They honored the advent with an eclectic array of music that featured Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Derde orkestsuite in D BWV 1068”, Joonas Kokkonen’s “…durch einen Spiegel…”, Mozart’s “Pianoconcert nr.24 KV 491” and Olli Mustonen’s “Tripelconcert voor drie violen en orkest” on 20^th Decmeber 2008.

On 6^th February 2009, they put together another diverse menu of Antonin Dvorak’s Polednice, Geza Frid’s “Ritmische studies opus 58”, Zoltan Kodaly’s “Dansen van Galanta”, and Ligeti’s “Vioolconcert”. No less wide-ranging was their era-hopping performance on 14^th February 2009 that included J.S. Bach’s “Klavierconcert in g, BWV 1058”, Beethoven’s “Tweede symfonie in D, op. 36”, Robert Schumann’s “Fuga uber den Namen Bach, op. 60 nr. 6”, and Stravinsky’s “Concerto in D”.

They mellowed things out on 27^th March 2009 with Avond van de Melancholie, a recital of Ton Bruynel’s “Soft Song” and “Translucent II”, Gavin Bryars’ “The North Shore”, Hans Dorrestijn’s “compilatie uit eigen werk”, Gija Kantsjeli’s “Diplipito”, Ingram Marshall’s “Fog Tropes”, Arvo Part’s “Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten”, and Paul Schoenfeld’s “Klezmer Rondos”.

Justine was one of several musicians who congregated at the Raadhuis van Hilversum on 21^st April 2009 for George Antheil’s “Bohemian Grove at Night”, Samuel Barber’s “Summer Music”, Aaron Copland’s “Quiet City”, and Poulenc’s “Le bal masque”, “L’invitation au chateau”, and “Sextuor”.

The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic interpreted Henk Badings’ “Harpconcert”, in tandem with soloist Lavinia Meijer, on 31^st October 2009. On 24^th November 2009, it was back to the Raadhuis for an evening of Dvorak’s “Strijkkwintet”, Gustav Holst’s “Kwintet voor blazers”, and the Dutch premiere of Emanuel Moor’s “Dubbelkwintetvoor 5 strijkers en 5 blazers”.

On 13^th October 2010, the Noord Nederlands Orkest and Royal Military Band participated in the OnWings festival by delivering the world premiere of John Corigliano’s “Oboe Concerto”.

The Netherlands Wind Ensemble provided the music for a production of Het Paradijs, another theatrical treat courtesy of Bart Moeyaert, with music by Haydn, and committed it to compact disc, in 2010.

She has also performed with the Netherlands Blazers Ensemble.

Here is the Netherlands radio Chamber Orchestra performing “Intrada” by Willem van Otterloo…

Sources:

Gerretsen, Justine (1963-Present)

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