Schröder, Jaap

Schröder, Jaap, distinguished Dutch Violinist, conductor, and pedagogue; b. Amsterdam, Dec. 31, 1925. He was a student of Jos de Clerck at the Sweelinck Cons. in Amsterdam (soloist diploma, 1947). He then went to Paris and studied with Fournier at the Ecole Jacques Thibaud (premier prix, 1948), with Masson (musicology) at the Sorbonne (1947–49), and with Jean Pasquier (1948–49). In 1950 he made his professional debut as a violinist in Mozart’s A major Concerto, K.219, in Maastricht. From 1950 to 1963 he was concertmaster of the Radio Chamber Orch. in Hilversum, and from 1960 to 1973 he was concertmaster and conductor of Concerto Amsterdam. He was a member of the Netherlands String Quartet from 1952 to 1969 and of Quadro Amsterdam from 1960 to 1966. From 1963 to 1991 he was prof. of violin at the Sweelinck Cons. and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel from 1974 to 1991. In 1973 he organized the Quartetto Esterhazy with the purpose of performing the Classical string quartet repertoire along historically informed lines, and remained active with it until 1981. From 1973 to 1981 he also was concertmaster of the Aston Magna Ensemble in the U.S. He was concertmaster of the Academy of Ancient Music in London from 1980 to 1984, and also was principal guest conductor of the Smithsonian Chamber Orch. in Washington, D.C., from 1981 to 1990. In 1982 he founded the Smithson String Quartet in the latter city, with which he was active until 1996. In 1989 he founded the Atlantis Ensemble for the purpose of performing Classical and Romantic works on period instruments. He also was a member of the Arcadia Players, a Baroque trio, from 1991 to 1995. As a guest conductor, he has appeared with both period and modern instrument orchs. He was a visiting lecturer at the Juilliard School in N.Y. (1982, 1984) and at Yale Univ. (1982–96),a guest prof. at the Edsburg Music Inst. in Stockholm (from 1986), the Luxembourg Cons. (1994–97), and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (1996–99), and a teacher of master classes on both sides of the Atlantic. To mark the 250^thanniversary of Bach’s death in 2000, he wrote a study on the Leipzig master’s Sonatas for Solo Violin. Schröder has won notable distinction for his performances of the violin literature of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. He has also performed much music from the Classical and Romantic eras.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire