Jan-Willem Rozenboom

It seems like a fairy tale and maybe it is. Legend has it that the composer J. S. Bach wrote 30 variations on one aria, at the request of a Russian count suffering from persistent insomnia. He hired a young musician, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, to play the variations to ease the burden of his sleepless nights. Therefore, the variations composed by Bach, which were released in 1741, were henceforth called after the performer: the Goldberg variations. The result is a masterpiece, which can only be performed by an expert.

That expert is Jan-Willem Rozenboom (1974), who has been the pianist and composer of famous Dutch singer Guus Meeuwis for thirty years. They jointly wrote many hits, including ‘Toen ik je zag,’ ‘Brabant’ and ‘Tranen gelachen.’ It is less known that Rozenboom is also one of the most talented classical pianists in the Netherlands. In 2003, he completed the master’s degree program of the legendary Rian de Waal at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. 

Since then, and in addition to his career in pop music, Rozenboom studied the Goldberg Variations for eleven years. Something that few pianists have tried, because the performance of Bach's masterpiece requires great technique, virtuosity, and musicality. Jan-Willem Rozenboom proves to amply possess all three skills.

The variations were recorded in 2014. Now, ten years later, they are once again included in the program. Now, Rozenboom is even better skilled at conveying the beauty of this piece.