Jan Bartlema, Holland

The Dutch guitarist and composer Jan Bartlema was born into a musical family in Zwolle, The Netherlands with a lot of interest in classical music and world music. Today he is one of the leading figures of the guitar scene in The Netherlands.  He did his guitar studies with Pieter  van der Staak, Jorge Oraison and in Prague with Milan Zelenka. As a solo player he has been a frequent guest at several guitar festivals in Europe, North America and Asia.  Besides solo playing he is also very involved in chamber music. Two albums were recorded for guitar quartet “the eagle flies alone” and with the Juerga ensemble “Vidalita” consisting of 2 guitars, flute and soprano.

His playing is powerful and expressive with a striking nuance of colour. His latest solo album “Oracion” was hailed by the Classical guitar magazine as “ a master class in musical presentation and a must-have for all collectors of good classical guitar music”.

In his search for new music a number of compositions by various composers are dedicated to him - among them Atanas Ourkouzounov, Pieter van der Staak and Tera de Marez Oyens and Annette Kruisbrink.

As a composer Jan has published guitar solo pieces and chamber music with several publishing houses including Les production D’Oz in Quebec, Canada, De Haske publications in the Netherlands and Edition Daminus in Germany.

Today Jan is teaches at the ROC Friese Poort in Drachten, The Netherlands