Guitar
Christiaan van Hemert has been on our teaching staff once before, in 2016. He taught guitar that year and his classes were among the most sought-after and appreciated we’ve ever experienced at Django in June. I think it comes down to this: he plays many instruments, wants to play them all at a very high level, and therefor has no time to waste. So he gives careful thought to what he has to practice, and how.
Here’s the kicker, though: then he shares what he’s learned in the process with others. Christiaan teaches at the Rotterdam University of the Arts, in a host of educational videos online like those above, through The Rosenberg Academy, and at workshops around the world. Here he is, breaking it down:
On violin, Christiaan often performs as a guest of the Rosenberg Trio and alongside Stochelo Rosenberg in different groups. He has played with countless high profile gypsy jazz artists: Mozes Rosenberg, Paulus Schafer, Joscho Stefan, Fapy Lafertin, Tchavolo Schmitt, Roby Lakatos, Gary Potter. Here he is with the Rosenberg Trio playing one of the tunes in our Tier 2 Core Repertoire for this year, The Sheik of Araby.
Christiaan studied violin, double bass and piano at the Utrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague conservatories. He led his own symphonic orchestra as a conductor/arranger and was both a soloist and conductor in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. He toured for eight years throughout Europe as the artistic director and bandoneón player with Tango Dorado, with which he recorded four well received CDs and one live concert DVD. I told you he played a lot of instruments. Enjoy this video in which he plays all of them. The tune is “Milonga del angel,” which Christiaan calls “a perfect composition” by Astor Piazzolla.