You can call it chamber jazz, but the members of the North Sea String Quartet (NSSQ) will be the last ones to try and limit their work by mere stylistic descriptions. As prominent improvising string players in the Dutch and international music scene, they are influenced by modern jazz, classical, global and folk music. Jazz journalist Götz Buhler wrote about their performance: ‘Using their classical, world, and folk influences, along with a lot of jazz, these improvising string players have created one of the most exciting and celebrated concerts of this year’s inJazz.’
The NSSQ comprises violinists George Dumitriu and Pablo Rodríguez, violist Yanna Pelser and cellist Thomas van Geelen. Their desire for an acoustic group that grooves and swings, moves freely in collective improvisations and also masters the classical strings sound, led them to form the quartet in Rotterdam in 2016. They have performed at a wide range of prestigious concert halls and festivals across Europe, such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Bimhuis, North Sea Jazz Festival, Brosella Festival, Jazz and The City Salzburg and Canarias Jazz & Más. Among their frequent collaborators are Trio da Kali (ML) – in an award-winning project they previously recorded with the Kronos Quartet, Javier Infante (ES), Lílian Vieira (BR/NL) and Roland Satterwhite (USA/DE). At this year’s North Sea Jazz Festival, they performed with singer-songwriter Samora Pinderhughes (USA), as well as with Trio da Kali.
In December of this year, the NSSQ will be recording its debut album “String Migration”, to be released with 7 Mountain Records and premiered across the Netherlands from May 2024. “String Migration” symbolizes the journey of the time-honored string quartet into the modern era. This is not a simple step or a shortcut, but rather a long-term trek, a complex and profound evolution that has been going on for some years with groups like Turtle Island Quartet (US) and Atom String Quartet (PL). The NSSQ takes an important step in this development with their skills as improvisers and composers, and the ability to sound as an autonomous ‘band’ with rhythm section.
Aside from performing, the members of the quartet attach great value to inspiring the next generation of string players. They have lead multiple workshops on improvisation for young musicians in and outside of the Netherlands and have worked several times with the Canarian youth orchestra Barrios Orquestados. In 2019, together with world renowned jazz violinist and pedagogue Tim Kliphuis, they founded the Academy of Improvising Strings, an annual workshop weekend in the Netherlands, with a first edition especially for teenagers in 2022.
North Sea String Quartet is supported by Stichting North Sea Strings.
George Dumitriu is a Romanian born violist, violinist and guitarist, residing in Amsterdam. Graduate of the Bucharest National University of Music, he won more than 15 national and international prizes as a classical violinist. As a jazz guitarist he studied in Groningen (granted with the Huygens Scholarship), New York and Conservatory of Amsterdam, researching live electronics.
As a leader of DUMItRIO, he released the albums Proverbe (TryTone 2017) and Future Nostalgia (FN01 2014). The latest project of the group is the video series soFar soNear, featuring guest artists. The solo project Monk on Viola presents a new perspective on the music of Thelonious Monk.
He performs internationally with a variety of ensembles (Sanem Kalfa, Kaja Draksler Octet, Black Sea Songs, Alex Simu Quintet, Eve Risser, Blink String Quartet). Important collaborations: Ambrose Akinmusire, Theo Loevendie, Michel Godard, Ack van Rooyen, Michael Moore, Nationale Opera & Ballet Amsterdam, Brussels Jazz Orchetra.
Former guest teacher at Amsterdam Conservatory and Prins Claus Conservatory, he is currently part of the faculty of Utrecht Conservatory. He is a founding member of Romanian Jazz International.
Born in La Palma, Canary Islands, Pablo Rodríguez started to play the violin at the age of 6. Six years later, when one of his sisters gave him a Stephane Grappelli recording, he was enormously fascinated and quickly started to self-develop his own jazz language on the violin. This development turned out to be very useful in other music styles such as flamenco, folk and latin. Pablo has performed at several recordings, jazz venues and concert halls such as Heineken Jazz & más, Mercat de la música viva de Vic, Amsterdam Music Festival, Ateneo de Madrid, Auditorio Tenerife, Escola Tom Jobim (Brazil), De Doelen and the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium.
Besides his passion for jazz and improvisation, he studied classical violin in Madrid with violinist Alfredo García Serrano and in Codarts Rotterdam with András Czifra. At Codarts he also finished his master studies in Latin jazz with Christiaan van Hemert, Abel Marcel, Niti Ranjan Biswas and Anna Elis de Jong.
He has collaborated with a variety of artists such as Irene Álvarez (Cuadro Flamenco), DOT Quartet, Jose Manuel León, Gordan Nikolić, Jorge Pardo, Carles Benavent, Pedro Díaz, Ima Galguén (arranger & composer), Pedro Sanz, Kike Perdomo, NEI-L, Voodrish, Nacho Aldeguer, Tim Kliphuis, Juan Carlos Pérez Brito, Domingo “Colorao” and Inma Galiot.
When Yanna Pelser, born in Delft, heard a recording of Händel’s ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’ at the age of 5, her eyes started to sparkle. From this moment her love for music became clear and her parents decided to let her take violin lessons. In several(youth) orchestras she discovered the most beautiful orchestral music in the major concert halls of Europe while growing into an experienced orchestra and chamber musician. Drawn by the depth and warmth of the viola sound, she swapped her violin for a viola at the age of 14.
During her classical viola studies at the conservatories of Rotterdam, Tilburg and Detmold she discovered that her voice blended very well with her viola sound. From there she started developing the skill of singing and playing simultaneously. Currently she is composing new music for her debut album, on which the singing violist will be the center of attention.
Jazz-, pop- and world music are just as important to Yanna as is classical music. She is actively performing with jazz sextet Ikarai, and has collaborated with pop artists such as Duncan Laurence, Karsu, Celine Cairo and Flip Noorman. Yanna is often asked for studio work: she has recorded for David Guetta, Celine Dion, Will.I.Am and many more.
Thomas van Geelen, a Tilburg native, started playing the cello aged ten at the local music school. While in high school he got drawn to other musical genres, progressive rock in particular. He learned to play the guitar and started playing in bands and with singer-songwriters. During his time studying Journalism, he decided to take his music making to a professional level.
He studied classical cello at the conservatory of Tilburg, took masterclasses with many great cellists and immersed himself into musical life, earning prizes in chamber music and band contests. Eventually he chose to combine his classical studies with jazz, hooking him up with some great teachers, to give way to his non-classical background. Meanwhile he also took arranging lessons. After getting his masters degree, he continued his studies at the conservatory of Rotterdam to further develop his jazz playing.
Thomas was selected twice for a carte blanche concert at renowned jazz venues in Breda, where he invited Oene van Geel, Ab Baars and others to play his own compositions. As a substitute, he frequently plays with the award winning Metropole Orkest. Furthermore he’s part of the crossover group Coal Harbour and the classical Bartolotti ensemble. As a studio musician he has recorded for David Guetta and David Garrett, among others.
