The Rolos gave a workshop to young talents from Broek in Waterland!

The Rolo’s were invited by the Broeker Kerk Foundation to give a concert on Sunday, January 19. We were asked if we could also do something with the youth from the village. This is how the idea arose to give an improvisation workshop prior to The Rolo’s concert. Four brave young musical talents registered. The youngest was 10 years old and the oldest was 12 years old. Annemijn and Floris had decided to link the improvisation to the blues. The blues has a simple form and harmony, so it is perfect for this. They told something about the history and ‘Call and Response’ and showed and listened to some good examples. They then applied the call and response principle to a simple melody, namely The C-Jam Blues. In addition, a second question and answer was rehearsed. The blues scale was taught, played before and after and there was really good improvisation. The young talents from Broek in Waterland picked it up very quickly! Annemijn and Floris had never given a workshop before. Not that strange at that age :-). They really enjoyed doing it. The Rolos have managed to ignite the musical fire in these young talents and hope to have planted a seed that the participants will look back on later with great pleasure.

Annemijn enjoys her studies at the Junior Jazz College!

In September 2024, Annemijn started the Junior Jazz College of the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Annemijn enjoyed going to Amsterdam every Saturday to take lessons from great teachers such as Jeffrey Bruinsma, Niels Tausk and Simon Rigter. At the end of this year there was a performance during the Ensemble Night of the JJC and 12 Hours of Jazz of the CvA. This study was made possible in part by a Cultuurfonds grant from the Cultuurfonds. The grant was made possible in part by the Paul Christiaan van Westering Fund. Great! It’s really great how young talent is supported in this way.

The Rolo’s a great success with their performance for the Dutch Violin Building School!

The Dutch Violin Building School in Makkum has existed for 20 years. There will be a series of festive activities throughout the week, of which The Rolo’s concert was one of them. The concert location was a beautiful church at Bleekstraat 11. First Annemijn and Floris played a number of pieces as a duo and Floris also played the beautiful composition by Mike Boddé, De Florisrol. Annemijn played the entire concert on a violin made by Ger Sperling. The violin was only just finished and still needs to be varnished. The violin already sounded great! The last part of the concert was another first. Ruud Ouwehand played three more pieces with his selfmade double bass. This instrument was also not yet lacquered. The bass had a great sound! Congratulations Ger and Ruud with your beautiful instruments!

Floris plays for the piano class of the Prins Claus Conservatory!

This is a short compilation of two beautiful compositions. Today Floris Rol (10) had a special morning. He was invited by Nata Tsvereli to play in the weekly piano class of the classical department. This year Floris won the Music Prize of the Princess Christina Competition. With this prize Floris had guest lessons from the classical piano virtuoso and conservatory teacher Nata Tsvereli. De last months he worked on the first part of a beautiful Suite by Claude Debussy. Children’s Corner is the name of the suite in 6 parts. Floris is studying the first part called, Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum. Today in front of all the students Floris could show how far he is with this composition and get some good and very positive feedback from the students. Nata asked Floris if he would play a second composition. Floris chose to play a Korean children’s song called Bandal. Floris has learned to play this composition by Rob van Bavel who is also responsible for this beautiful arrangement.

Mike Boddé & The Rolo’s

Last Sunday, August 18, Annemijn and Floris performed with their great musical friend, Mike Boddé. In the Aegtenkapel in Amersfoort, a truly magnificent location with a beautiful grand piano, the trio played the stars from the sky. This concert was part of the Amersfoort World Jazz Festival. An incredible honor and challenge for The Rolo’s to be programmed at this renowned festival together with Mike Boddé.

Incredible experience for The Rolo’s

From 7 to 11 July, The Rolo’s participated as a duo in an international competition, Ibla Grand Prize 2024 in Sicily. In five days they gave 11 concerts at beautiful locations in Ibla. The young talents Annemijn and Floris have gained another great experience. They played a mix of jazz, latin and classical music, almost all of it their own arrangements. There is room for improvisation in almost every arrangement. This compilation contains short pieces of four compositions: Every Age I Have Been Grateful by Martin Fondse and Margriet Sjoerdsma, You Taught My Heart To Sing by McCoy Tyner, Pepper by Annemijn Rol, Meditation by Jules Massenet

Five more nights of sleep and then the international adventure of The Rolo’s begins!

On July 6th, Annemijn and Floris take the plane to Sicily (Italy). There they will participate in an international contest: Ragusa/Ibla Grand Prize. Besides the fact that it is special that brother (10) and sister (13) form a duo together, the repertoire they have prepared is also very special. They play a mix of jazz, latin and classical music and they have arranged almost all the compositions themselves. The composition of Annemijn, Pepper, will also be performed outside the Netherlands for the first time. Over the past month they have both focused entirely on playing together as a duo. In order to be well attuned to each other, they gave three try-out concerts prior to their contest tour, two of the try-out concerts are already completed. Above you can listen to a short impression of Jules Massenet’s great composition, Meditation. Buon Ascolto! (Happy listening!)