BIO
The Dutch pianist Jorrit van den Ham has been engaged as a répétiteur and pianist at the Stadttheater Bremerhaven since 2018. He is considered a versatile and experienced musician who moves confidently through a wide variety of musical genres with solid technical and interpretative skills, as well as a personal tone, stylistic assurance. His broad interests open possibilities in different musical directions, yet his strong connection to music theatre has repeatedly become evident. Since the 2024 season, alongside his part-time work at the theatre, he has also held a teaching position in vocal coaching at the University of the Arts in Bremen.
A great passion of his lies in orchestral and ensemble playing. On various keyboard instruments, he has performed many concerts and productions with orchestras such as the Philharmonic Orchestra Bremerhaven, the Bremen Philharmonic, and in the Netherlands with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as numerous project orchestras.
Over the years, Jorrit van den Ham has become a sought-after accompanist for opera companies, orchestras, soloists, and choirs. In the Netherlands, he has worked for Dutch National Opera & Ballet, the Netherlands Touring Opera, and the Dutch National Opera Academy. In the summer of 2017, he performed for the Kammeroper Rheinsberg in the production “Tucholsky’s Spiegel” (James Reynolds).
From 2013 to 2018, Jorrit van den Ham was engaged, among other roles, as a répétiteur in the education program of Dutch National Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam. Alongside his work as a répétiteur, he developed opera workshops for school classes there. He also collaborated with several renowned conductors. Particularly noteworthy are the productions of “The Magic Flute” and three editions of the “Children’s Choir Festival,” each featuring a commissioned composition for small ensemble performed in the main hall.
Jorrit van den Ham has given numerous concerts throughout Europe. Solo performances, as well as chamber music concerts and song recitals, are part of his diverse musical experience. His solo career continues to expand; he has performed the piano concerto by Viktor Ullmann with the Philharmonic Orchestra Bremerhaven (broadcast by Deutschlandfunk Kultur), the Jazz Suite by Alexander Tsfasman, and The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. Also particularly noteworthy is his performance in musical theatre productions, such as “Lebensbaum,” directed by Klaus Bertisch. In the Wagner year 2013, Jorrit van den Ham was a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation.
Education
Jorrit van den Ham was influenced by classical music at a very early age. His parents were orchestral musicians in renowned orchestras in the Netherlands, and he essentially grew up with music, gaining important experiences at a young age through attending concerts and rehearsals. He began playing the piano at the age of 8 and was admitted to the Amsterdam Conservatory just five years later. He successfully completed his studies there in 2006 as a classically trained pianist. He initially studied piano at the Amsterdam Conservatory with Marjès Benoist, Håkon Austbø, and Naum Grubert, building an extensive solo repertoire. He received further inspiration in song accompaniment from Rudolf Jansen. During and after his studies, he took part in various international masterclasses, for example at the Conservatoire de Sion and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. A particularly important encounter for him was with Prof. Peter Feuchtwanger (London), who had a major influence on his further pianistic and musical development.