Fay Claassen (vocals) Fay recorded her own albums together with many international musicians such as Mike Stern, Kenny Werner, Toots Thielemands, and she was invited as soloist for many CD recordings by the WDR Big Band, Bob Brookmeyers New Art Orchestra, the Millennium Jazz Orchestra and the Danish Radio Big Band.
She cooperated with well known conducters and arrangers such as Jim Mc Neely, Vince Mendoza and Michael Abene. Fay was rewarded with The Golden Record for her double album Two Portraits of Chet Baker. Jazz Times USA wrote about this cd: ’An Astonishing Album’, Down Beat: ‘A mega-production with extremely solo contributions’.
In the Winners Poll of All About Jazz USA the album was proclaimed as ‘Best Vocal Album of the Year’. Moreover, for other albums Fay received a Grammy longlistnomination and an Edison Award. In 2011 her succesfully cd SING! with the WDR Big Band and the WDR Rundfunk Orchester conducted and arranged by Michael Abene was presented. As guest soloist Fay was often invited by the Metropole Orkest and Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw. Her effortless skill of improvisation not only brought her on stages in Europe, but also in Japan, China and the U.S.A.

Residentie Orkest The Hague proves that even in the 21st century, symphonic music can still be meaningful to large and diverse audiences. Its reputation as one of the finest orchestras in Europe makes it an appropriate figurehead for The Hague as a cosmopolitan city of justice, peace, and culture. The orchestra performs concert series in the Zuiderstrandtheater in Scheveningen and in addition performs at venues such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, TivoliVredenburg Utrecht and De Doelen in Rotterdam. Special crossover and innovative productions are also provided at The Hague’s prominent pop venue Paard van Troje throughout the season. The Residentie Orkest performs regularly at various other major concert halls abroad. Tours have brought the orchestra to New York, Boston, Chicago, London and Vienna amongst others and the orchestra also performed in countries like Japan, China, Germany, France and South America. There are also many prolific collaborations with a wide range of partners, including the Dutch National Theatre, Gemeentemuseum and the Dutch National Opera. Recent seasons have seen a much acclaimed production of Messiaen’s rarely performed opera Saint François d’Asisse and Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites.

A rich history Since its first concert in 1904, the Residentie Orkest has developed into one of the prominent symphony orchestras of The Netherlands. Founded by Dr Henri Viotta, who was also its first principal conductor, it quickly attracted composers like Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Max Reger, Maurice Ravel, Paul Hindemith and Vincent d’Indy. Guest conductors included Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Leonard Bernstein and Hans Knappertsbusch.

After World War II, Willem van Otterloo was appointed chief conductor. He led the orchestra from 1949 to 1973 and built a strong reputation by combining high-quality performances with adventurous programming. Van Otterloo was succeeded by Jean Martinon, Ferdinand Leitner, Hans Vonk, Evgenii Svetlanov, Jaap van Zweden and Neeme Järvi.

Chief conductor Starting season 2018/2019 Nicholas Collon is chief conductor and artistic advisor of the Residentie Orkest. Richard Egarr will join the orchestra as principal guest conductor in 2019. Until the summer of 2019 Jan Willem de Vriend will act as principal conductor.

Karel Boehlee is perhaps Holland's best-kept secret. I remember hearing him play in the early eighties, when I just returned from the United States. He was the first pianist of this kind of modern class I had ever heard in Holland. And on what level! Over the years Karel has improved and improved. The lines became more thoughtful, the harmony more precise; the rhythm was always very strong, but became larger, more in the pocket. Yet underneath all these ingredients there was always something more powerful: the sound! Karel's sound is unique; his touch just seems to reach you right in the centre of where music enters the soul. With impeccable taste Karel will always come up with something fresh, something his own and makes it sound so good.
So why is he a well kept secret? Well, Karel is a real player; he simply loves to go out and play. He will play with his old pals in little cafés, he will play with young and upcoming musicians, he will play with the best pop singers. Karel is a musician at heart. And the business doesn't know how to deal with this. The business wants exclusivity, wants to put a label on someone, wants an image. And somehow Karel is not playing that game. He is not chasing record deals; he is not showing his face at the right spots at the right time, he doesn't search for journalists to do interviews with him. He is busy doing what a musician should do: play music! It takes people with a broader outlook to recognise Karel's sublimity. He has recorded seven CD's for a Japanese label; they keep coming back. Karel is the favourite pianist of the legendary Toots Thielemans. Karel is loved by wonderful Dutch pop singer Trijntje Oosterhuis, who will seek him out whenever there is a chance. Real people know that behind this humble appearance a great pianist is residing.

Peter Tiehuis (1956) combined a classical study at the Conservatory of Twente in Enschede, a jazz study at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with an extensive stage experience in rock and blues bands which enabled him to play almost any kind of music. He is a member the Metropole Orchestra since 1996.