Jelrik Beerkens

Jelrik Beerkens (1988) started with clarinet lessons at the age of nine with Betty Bartels.
After that, during his secondary school years, he attended the Young Talent Class of the Fontys Conservatoire in Tilburg, initially with Jan Cober and later with Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer.
He completed his Bachelor's degree with the latter in 2011.
He then went on to pursue his Master's degree in Amsterdam with Hans Colbers, which he completed in 2015.
During his Bachelor's degree, Jelrik also played the bass clarinet in addition to clarinet.
He followed his master's bass clarinet with Erik van Deuren in Amsterdam and finished this training with a beautiful final exam in 2016.

In daily life, Jelrik Beerkens is active as a clarinet and bass clarinet player with the Orchestra of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Already during his studies he played there as a substitute, but he has been employed there since 2013 and since then he has also performed regularly as a soloist with this orchestra.

Jelrik has already played in various chamber music ensembles and orchestras during his studies, but certainly also afterwards. As a replacement he participates in various productions of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra.

In addition, Jelrik was active in ensembles including Lunatree and the Nieuw Ensemble. He has been a member of the Clarinet Quartet of the Royal Netherlands Air Force since 2014 and has been associated with the TenToon wind ensemble since 2018, with whom he recorded a compact disc in 2015.

In addition to his studies, Jelrik also spent a number of years in the National Youth Orchestra (NJO). With this orchestra he has given many concerts at home and abroad and has also performed as a soloist in Prelude, Fugue and Riffs by Leonard Bernstein and the Ebony Concerto by Igor Stravinsky.

From 2018 Jelrik Beerkens is a Dutch ambassador for Henri SELMER Paris clarinets.

Photo credit: Richard Brocken