My name is Yolanda Kuijper (1997), a graduate of the Royal Conservatory (KC) in The Hague, and since March 2019, I have been on loan an instrument from the Musical Instrument Fund, which I am incredibly happy with.
At the age of nine, I began taking violin lessons at the music school in Zaandam with Ruth Cobelens. During this time, I participated in various competitions, such as the Jan Pasveer Competition, the Herman Krebbers Competition, and the Princess Christina Competition. During high school, I studied violin at the Sweelinck Academy of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA), where I took violin lessons from Reinette Thiadens. During this time, I gained valuable experience by performing with musicians from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (KCO) and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (RFO). I also performed with a string quartet at the Piano Duo Festival in Amsterdam.
In 2015, I began studying Educational Sciences at Leiden University. As part of that program, I completed a three-year minor in violin at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where I took violin lessons from Liesbeth Ackermans. This minor made me realize that I wanted to continue pursuing music. My first step was to find a new instrument that would allow me to further develop my violin playing. Fortunately, through the Musical Instrument Fund, I found an instrument that suits me well. The next step was to take the entrance exam for the violin major program. In September 2019, I began my bachelor’s degree at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. There, I studied violin with Janet Krause and took chamber music lessons from Peter Brunt.
I then enrolled in the accelerated Music Education program at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. There, I took classical and pop/jazz voice lessons, as well as piano lessons. As an elective, I took jazz violin lessons from Cristiano Viviani and Tim Kliphuis. In addition to these studies, I completed a master’s degree in Forensic Family Pedagogy at Leiden University. I completed both programs in the spring of 2024. In 2025, I took private lessons at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in classical violin with Joe Puglia and jazz vocals with Anka Koziel.
Music is very important in my life. I play in various classical ensembles and in a jazz trio. I gained orchestral experience in the North Holland Youth Orchestra (NHJO) and the VU Orchestra in Amsterdam, among others. Over the course of eight years, I learned an immense amount in these orchestras by performing major symphonies. In 2019, I participated as concertmaster in a project organized by the Metropole Academy of the Metropole Orchestra. Currently, as a violinist, I’m primarily active in light music (pop and jazz) and Irish folk music. I work as a session violinist and do arranging work for artists’ albums.
Since March 2019, I have been playing an instrument provided by the Musical Instrument Fund. The instrument gives me more opportunities to continue growing as a musician, and it’s a huge incentive to play even more.
