JACOB SLAGTER

Jacob Slagter

Jacob Slagter was a French hornist for more than 25 years with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He was a member of the Fodor Quintet and the Amsterdam Horn Trio, with Emmy Verhey and Paul Komen. Since leaving the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, he has been active principally as a conductor.
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Instruments

dirigent, hoorn

Biography Jacob Slagter

Jacob Slagter was a French hornist for more than 25 years with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He was a member of the Fodor Quintet and the Amsterdam Horn Trio, with Emmy Verhey and Paul Komen. Since leaving the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, he has been active principally as a conductor.

1958 - 1972

Jacob Slagter is born in Kollum on September 4. He begins playing the bugle as a child, taking lessons from Tjeerd Brouwer, who advises him to switch instruments, because the bugle is not an orchestral instrument. Slagter takes up the French horn. In an interview in June 2004 he says: “We all began somewhere. You start at the bottom of the pyramid and by trial and error work your way to the top. There isn’t much room at the top, of course, but if you don’t have the pyramid beneath you, you’ll never get to the top. The one is inextricably linked with the other. The great conductor Daniel Barenboim once asked, Where would we be as professionals if there were no more amateurs?"

1972

At age 14, Slagter gives his first solo performance, with the Frysk Orchestra.

1975 - 1978

Jacob Slagter studies the French horn with Oldrich Milek at Music Pedagogy Academy in Leeuwarden. In the television programme 'De Artiestenfoyer (Het Gesprek )' [The Artists Foyer (The Conversation)] he says: “That man whipped me into shape, and not too gently, either. If something wasn’t good, I got a sermon.” In 1977, Slagter wins the International French Horn Competition in Luxembourg.

1979

Jacob Slagter completes his studies in Leeuwarden and goes on to study at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, again with Oldrich Milek.

1980

Slagter is a member of the Fodor Kwintet, with Marieke Schneemann (flute), Gerrit Boonstra (clarinet), Harmen de Boer (clarinet), Ronald Karten (bassoon) and Bart Schneemann (oboe).

Bart Schneemann Gerrit Boonstra Harmen de Boer

1981 - 1985

Jacob Slagter wins the Fock medal. Upon completing his education in The Hague, he joins the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as second French hornist. In 1985, he is appointed solo hornist.

1987 - 1988

Jacob Slagter begins teaching at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory. He wins first prize at the Prague Spring International Music Competition and is awarded the Netherlands Music Prize.

1992

On a Guarneri Trio CD he plays music by Johannes Brahms.

1995 - 1996

Slagter becomes chief conductor of the Netherlands Brass Orchestra. He performs Mozart’s 'Horn Concerto in E-flat' with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra.

1999 - 2000

Slagter conducts the Netherlands Brass Orchestra, and other ensembles, in the Main Hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and at the Grachten Festival in Amsterdam. He performs as a soloist on a CD with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra in Otto Ketting’s 'Cheops' (1995).

2003 - 2009

Slagter conducts the Entrée orchestral projects of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2003, 2006 and 2009. The Fodor Kwintet is disbanded in 2005. In 2006, he conducts the Holland Symfonia orchestra in a concert of music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Charles Gounod and Antonin Dvořák. In a programme with the Frisian fado singer Nynke Laverman, he conducts the North Netherlands Orchestra.

Nynke Laverman

2009

Jacob Slagter resigns as first hornist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He says in Preludium magazine: “With the years, stamina decreases, changing ‘wanting’ to into ‘having to’. That pressure influences your playing, and you get the feeling that you are playing beneath your ability.”

2010

Slagter conducts the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and is Mariss Jansons’ assistant with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at the Christmas Matinee.

Photos Jacob Slagter

Audio/Video Jacob Slagter