Jonathan Roozeman

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“For me music was always just a very normal thing.”

A childhood spent in Finland amidst lakes and forests, always with his brother, often climbing trees – strong are the roots that connect Jonathan Roozeman to nature, and likewise to music, since both of his parents are musicians. Consequently, for him and his siblings alike, it was completely natural that he should learn an instrument. And since there happened to be no places available to start piano, at the age of six he took up the cello. The roots sprouted wings, and at just eleven years of age, Jonathan Roozeman embarked on his first concert tour. Today, he loves travelling. And cooking. And the forest, still. This is why he feels so at home in Kronberg. Nature gives him the peace he needs to focus fully on the music.

The Finnish-Dutch cellist Jonathan Roozeman, who was born in 1997, began his musical education as a junior student at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Professor Martti Rousi. In 2013 he was awarded a special prize at the Finnish National Cello Competition as well as at the 2013 International Paulo Cello Competition. Winning sixth prize in the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition – as the youngest participant ever – immediately resulted in an invitation to take part in a concert with the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Valeriy Gergiev. Jonathan Roozeman has also performed with the Jean Sibelius Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Moscow Virtuosi. In 2014 he toured China as a soloist with the Tapiola Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed at numerous international chamber music festivals.

In the 2022/23 season, Roozeman collaborated with the choreographer, Saburo Teshigawara, on a production at the Aichi Prefectural Art Theater Concert Hall in Nagoya based around solo works by Bach, Kodaly and Cassado. He will also be performing at the ARK Classics Festival in Tokyo.
He worked with acclaimed orchestras such as Tampere Philharmonic/​Matthew Halls, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra/​Julien Masmondet, returns to the Gulbenkian Foundation while also making his recital debut at the Concertgebouw with pianist, Varvara.

His recording of the Kalevi Aho Cello Concerto no.2 was released in 2023 and awarded the full five stars in the BBC Classical Music Magazine.

In recital, Jonathan has appeared at the Berlin Konzerthaus as part of Sir András Schiff’s residency, as well as a debut recital tour in Canada which included the prestigious Vancouver Recital Series. Other highlights include the London’s Baroque at the Edge festival, the White Nights Festival in Moscow, and the Ark Hills Festival in Tokyo with Fumiaki Miura and Nobuyuki Tsujii.

In previous seasons Jonathan has given a series of performances of Mania by Esa-Pekka Salonen as part of a project between the Sibelius Academy and the Juilliard School of Music under the baton of the composer in Helsinki, at the Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm and at New York’s Lincoln Center.

Jonathan Roozeman plays a cello by David Tecchler from 1707, which is on loan to him by the Finnish Culture Foundation. His bow was made by Jean Pierre Marie Persoit in Paris, c.1850. He was supported by a scholarship from the arteMusica-Stiftung.

At the 2016 Cello Masterclasses at Kronberg Academy, he was awarded the Landgrave of Hesse Prize. From 2016 to 2020 he has been studying at Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson. These studies were funded by the Christa Verhein Stiftung. 

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