3-day courses

Monasteries at the Cello Academy

EMBARK ON A YEAR-LONG JOURNEY WITH THE MONASTERIES

The 3-day Monasteries initiate a new movement within you.

Discover your creative abilities, enrich your technique an grow as a professional musician.

Refine your playing to an advanced level and dare to share your musical story with your audience.

“The most sensitive instrument is the human soul. One must purify the soul until it begins to sound”

Arvo Pärt

25 – 27 October 2024
10 – 12 January 2025
28 February – 2 March 2025
2 – 4 May 2025

€ 300 – 1 Monastery
€ 525 – 2 Monasteries
€ 750 – 3 Monasteries
€ 900 – 4 Monasteries

TEACHERS
Jeroen den Herder (cello)
Viola de Hoog (cello)
Joachim Eijlander (cello)

Hua-Hsuan Lee (piano)
Siebe Henstra (harpsichord)
Sebo Ebbens (learning expert and study coach)

The consistency of four Monasteries in one academic year, the focus on your personal development, the quality of guidance provided, and the environment that leads you naturally into a different mindset all bring you closer to your artistic roots.

• Learn how to study with focus – independently and effectively
• Get to know your instrument – technically and intuitively, so that the cello becomes a part of you in every way
• Deepen your understanding of the music – explore what it has to say and what it demands
• Nourish your inspiration – become aware of how to synchronise your inner and physical movements, and the impact this has on your playing
• Learn about the richness of self-compassion – and how it can be helpful even in demanding situations

WHAT TO EXPECT?

Practice and play

  • Individual masterclass every day
  • Ensemble playing
  • Ensemble playing with piano and harpsichord
  • Technical exercises
  • Performance for an audience

Talks and discussions

  • Topics such as basso continuo, Casals’ school, phenomenology of sound, and music as language, 17th and 18th-century repertoire from the perspective of historical performance practice, basics of Baroque language
  • Expertise about your instrument: history, cello, bow, and strings

Inspiration and creativity

  • Mindfulness, meditation, and breathing exercises from various philosophies
  • Poetry, stories, and songs from various cultures and periods

 

    THIS MAKES THE MONASTERIES SPECIAL

    A PERSONAL APPROACH

    We work in small groups of up to 8 students. This allows us to dedicate time and attention to the personal needs and developmental opportunities of each participant, not just as a cellist, but as a person and musician. Between sessions, we offer online support focusing on technical exercises, motivation, and inspiration.

    EXPERIENCED AND DEDICATED TEACHERS
    Our teachers provide safety and trust while also challenging you to discover your strength as a cellist. Drawing from their own experiences, they understand the challenges you face on your musical journey and offer techniques and insights to help you absorb knowledge and achieve greater refinement.
    SPACE TO EMERGE

    During Monasteries, you may discover unexpected talents within yourself. We provide a safe environment to explore and experiment. Our goal is not to judge, but to support your growth. You will notice this approach from your instructors: they ask a lot, yet they remain beside you, offering just what you need to take the next step.

    AS A GROUP WE LEARN TOGETHER

    As a group, we spend a lot of time together, allowing you to get to know everyone well. Together, you attend all classes, participate in each other’s masterclasses, play in various ensembles, and engage in discussions. We also dine together, often sparking ideas for additional activities.

    AN EXPERIENCE ON STAGE

    Monasteries #1 and #2 include an open stage for friends. These evenings involve group performances and opportunities for individual presentations. These are moments where you can freely express your knowledge and new insights. Your audience consists of a group of supportive friends of the Academy. 

    Monasteries #2 and #4 include a performance at saturday evening for an audience. 

    A PLACE OF TRANQUILITY AND INSPIRATION

    We primarily operate at Dat Bolwerck, a medieval complex in the heart of the old town of Zutphen, focused on contemporary art and ideas. The spaces are bright and radiate calm – an ideal setting for these 3-day cello retreats. Here, you attend all classes, dine together, and can find peace in the garden along the ancient city wall.

    MONASTERY PROGRAM ’24/’25

    25 – 27 October 2024
    10 – 12 January 2025
    28 February – 2 March 2025
    2 – 4 May 2025

    Registration deadline entire series:
    27 September 2024*

    *If you like to register after this date, please contact us

    YEAR PROGRAM - 3 OR 4 MONASTERIES

    Following the entire series naturally enriches your experience significantly. Each Monastery builds upon the previous one, providing extra depth to your technique, insight, and inspiration throughout the year alongside your conservatory studies.

    € 750 – 3 Monasteries
    € 900 – 4 Monasteries
    Including VAT, all classes, meals and accommodation

    Teachers: Jeroen den Herder (cello), Viola de Hoog (cello), Joachim Eijlander (cello), Hua-Hsuan Lee (piano), Siebe Henstra (harpsichord) and Sebo Ebbens (learning expert and study coach)

    Furthermore we offer you the oportunity to join the Academy of the International Cello Festival 2025

    Featuring masterclasses by top-level musicians – we will share these names with you as soon as possible.

    • 25% discount on your participation in the Academy Week of the International Cello Festival 2025
    • The potention to perform your Master Exam at the International Cello Festival 2025

     

    OR JOIN A SELECTION OF WEEKENDS

    Perhaps it’s not possible to attend the entire series. In that case, we gladly offer you a spot during available time.

      25 - 27 October 2024

      MONASTERY #1

      This Monastery focuses on contemporary music. Contemporary music is free from preconceptions about how it should be played, allowing for diverse interpretations. We explore modern repertoire, focusing on its structure and origins. With your knowledge, technique, and experience, you seek ways to imbue the music with freshness and vitality. 

      Teachers: Jeroen den Herder (cello), Joachim Eijlander (cello), Hua-Hsuan Lee (piano) and Sebo Ebbens (learning expert and study coach) 

      10 - 12 January 2025

      MONASTERY #2

      Besides the usual lessons and program, this Monastery has a special focus on historically informed music (17th and 18th century).  Understanding the origins of music provides valuable insights into your current playing. We delve into details that have been lost over time. You will find that these new insights revive old pieces and enrich new music.

      If you are interested we offer the opportunity for a first encounter with the baroque cello, – bow and gut strings. Experienced baroque cellists obviously are welcome as well.

      Teachers: Jeroen den Herder (cello), Viola de Hoog (cello), Hua-Hsuan Lee (piano), Siebe Henstra (harpsichord) and Sebo Ebbens (learning expert and study coach) 

      28 February - 2 March 2025

      MONASTERY #3

      This Monastery focuses on contemporary music. Contemporary music is free from preconceptions about how it should be played, allowing for diverse interpretations. We explore modern repertoire, focusing on its structure and origins. With your knowledge, technique, and experience, you seek ways to imbue the music with freshness and vitality. 

      Teachers: Jeroen den Herder (cello), Joachim Eijlander (cello), Hua-Hsuan Lee (piano) and Sebo Ebbens (learning expert and study coach)

      2 - 5 May 2025

      MONASTERY #4

      Besides the usual lessons and program, this Monastery has a special focus on historically informed music (17th and 18th century).  Understanding the origins of music provides valuable insights into your current playing. We delve into details that have been lost over time. You will find that these new insights revive old pieces and enrich new music.

      If you are interested we offer the opportunity for a first encounter with the baroque cello, – bow and gut strings. Experienced baroque cellists obviously are welcome as well.

      Teachers: Jeroen den Herder (cello), Viola de Hoog (cello), Hua-Hsuan Lee (piano), Siebe Henstra (harpsichord) and Sebo Ebbens (learning expert and study coach) 

      PRACTICAL NOTES

       

      CONTRIBUTION
      € 300 – 1 Monastery
      € 525 – 2 Monasteries
      € 750 – 3 Monasteries
      € 900 – 4 Monasteries

      Including VAT, covering all classes, accommodation and meals, excluding travel costs

      Please reach out if the contribution poses a financial challenge for you. In some cases, we can offer a scholarship. Check out the scholarschip conditions >>

      Refund conditions:

      • When you withdraw within 28 days (4 weeks) prior to the first day of the course, there is full refund possible;
      • When you withdraw within 14 days prior to the first day of the course, there is 50% refund possible.

      WHO CAN APPLY?
      Open to 8 cellists – bachelor, master, post-master and young professionals.
      WE ARRANGE YOUR STAY IN ZUTPHEN

      We arrange accommodations with nearby families close to Dat Bolwerck. All our meals, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner, will be provided at Dat Bolwerck.

      REPERTOIRE

      One of the unique aspects of our Monasteries is the opportunity to play repertoire of your own choice with piano. At Monastery #2 and #4 you also have the opportunity to play with harpsichord.

      You can bring your own repertoire. Please share this at least 4 weeks in advance so we can prepare piano or harpsichord accompaniment if needed. You find more specific details on this page >>

      Each Monastery we provide repertoire that aligns with the theme. In that way you can get most out of the topic. We ensure that it is manageable – alongside the repertoire you are working on yourself – and will share it well in advance.

       

      APPLICATION
      • Ask any questions via academy@cellowerckenzutphen.nl
      • Send your application via the ‘sign in buttons’ >>
      • The application is open until 4 weeks before the starting date of each Monastery (If this date has passed and you are interested, please contact us)
      • We will contact you as soon as possible about your participation
      • After admission we will send the invoice. If you join 2 or more Monasteries it is possible to pay in installments.

      TEACHERS

       

      Our teachers provide safety and trust while also challenging you to discover your strength as a cellist. Drawing from their own experiences, they understand the challenges you face on your musical journey and offer techniques and insights to help you absorb knowledge and achieve greater refinement.

      Jeroen den Herder

      Professor of conservatories of Utrecht and Rotterdam, artistic director of CelloWercken
      More about Jeroen den Herder

      Jeroen den Herder completed his studies with distinction with Maria Hol, Dmitri Ferschtman and Christopher Bunting. He then became a leader of the Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico, a group with a worldwide reputation as a full time cello ensemble.

      Den Herder gained several music awards. Among them a first prize-winner of the “Postbank Sweelinck” cello competition and the first prize of the Foundation of the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He’s been an active chamber music player, performing with musicians like Janine Jansen, Igor Roma, Anner Bijlsma and as a member of the Ruysdael Quartet Den Herder performed in all major concert halls in Holland (Concertgebouw) England (Wigmore Hall) and Japan (Oji Hall). Their concerts at the Amsterdam Quartet Biënnale received much acclaim. Between 1999 and 2012 Jeroen has been the cellist of the Nieuw Ensemble, one of the leading Dutch ensembles for contemporary music.

      Fulfilling the function of artistic director CelloWercken Zutphen, which embodies both the International Cello Festival and the Cello Academy, he commissioned contemporary composers the write for the festival, leading to inspired projects such as The Tibetan Book of the Death and Passion of Innocence.

      Den Herder has been a dedicated teacher ever since he took a professorship at the age of 22 at the Utrecht conservatory. His lessons are based on the development between mind and body, and a cello technique inspired by his teacher Christopher Bunting, a former student of Pablo Casals. Cello playing based on natural principles like gravity, character and playfulness.

      “Everything is music, play not to avoid mistakes, delegation of body functions and breathing” are some key topics which will lead to a healthy way achieving perfection. His main focus is making people aware what they exactly practise. He believes being aware of one’s imagination, sensitive listening, intuition and delegation of body functions are elements that have proved to be the best teachers for life.

      He’s been a regular guest teacher at the Conservatory in Minsk (2003-2010) and visiting guest- professor at the University in Tainan, Taiwan. Furthermore he has given masterclasses in Holland, Belgium, Spain, Germany, France, China and Israel. Today he helds positions as a teacher at the Conservatories of Utrecht and Rotterdam.

      “I’ve heard Jeroen den Herder performing the Elgar cello concerto with the Sint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He played with great distinction and sensitivity, and I believe he will grow into a wonderful cellist” Yehudi Menuhin, 1995.

      More about Viola de Hoog

      Viola de Hoog is a versatile musician whose distinguished international career has predominantly been focused on historically-informed performance. For twenty of those years she also travelled the world as the cellist in the renowned Dutch Schönberg Quartet.

      After completing her studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Anner Bijlsma, she concentrated on performing chamber music, playing both modern and baroque cellos. In 1986 she was a finalist at the First International Concours for baroque cello in Paris.

      For many years Viola de Hoog was principal cello with Anima Eterna, in which role she also performed with Tafelmusik Toronto, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, English Baroque Soloists, the Baroque Orchestra of the Netherlands Bach Society and Concerto Köln; she currently is principal cello with Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht and The King’s Consort.

      In 2009 – the Schönberg Quartet’s final year – Viola de Hoog founded the Narratio Quartet for the performance of Beethoven’s string quartets on period instruments. Challenge Records releases their recordings of the complete cycle during 2024-2025. The repertoire of her chamber music ensembles, both quartets and Ensemble Schönbrunn, spans from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries and has generated an impressive discography. Her recordings of Bachs cellosuites and Mendelssohns cellosonates are released by Vivatmusic.

      Since 1990 she has been teaching cello, baroque cello and chamber music at the conservatories of Amsterdam, Utrecht and Bremen.

      Viola de Hoog plays a cello made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Milano, c.1750, on loan from the collection of the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation.

      More about Joachim Eijlander

      Joachim connects his music with dancers, visual artists, and scientists in inspiring collaborative performances to inspire a wider audience.

      As a soloist, Joachim has performed with ensembles such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, Chernihiv Philharmonic Orchestra, Romanian State Philharmonic TirguMures, Csikszereda Chamber Orchestra, and various festival orchestras.

      Hua Hsuan Lee

      Hua-Hsuan Lee

      Solo pianist and piano teacher
      More about Hua-Hsuan Lee

      As a talented pianist, Hua-Hsuan Lee has been awarded prizes in numerous national and international competitions in her young age, including the first prize of International Cross-Strait International Music Competition(2015), the first prize of International Violin & Piano Competition of Vienna (2011), the first prize of Taiwan Music Competition (2007) , the second prize of Taiwan National Student Competition(2007) and as 3ème Prix à l’unanimité of International Music Competition (2022).

      In 2016, while she studied for her master degree with Russian-German pianist Stepan Simonian in Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Hamburg, her unique music talent and soulful playing was discovered by mastro Jeroen den Herder. Following that she has formed the cello/piano duo with Mr. den Herder and has been invited by numerous International festivals giving performances in Spain, Turkey, Netherlands. Since 2020, they have created their own concert series “Den Herder op Zondag”, where the diverse music has been provided to the public. The repertoire amounts virtuoso classical music to contemporary music.

      Next to her solo career, Hua-Hsuan Lee has extensive experience working as collaborative pianist with promising musicians and teachers, for instance Leonid Gorokhov, Jakob Koranyi, Gavriel Lipkind, Pieter Wispelwey. Since 2017 she collobrate as pianist in residence of Cellofestival Zutphen for masterclasses and concerts.

      Being a highly sensitive and enthusiastic artist, she has an unusual sensation and deep desire of searching for different artistic ways of self-expression. Her curious and challenging heart leads her to CelloWercken, where she can express freely in her unique voice and share her warm heart with people.

      Hua Hsuan Lee

      Siebe Henstra

      Professor harpsichord at the conservatory of Utrecht
      More about Siebe Henstra

      When he was 16 year old Siebe Henstra constructed his first harpsichord against the advice of his parents, but Siebe persisted. After school he studied the harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt and Ton Koopman at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. He has won prizes at competitions in Edinburgh (1982) and Amsterdam (1987).

      Since then, he has played with many ensembles; the best known are the Netherlands Bach Society (www.allofbach.com), the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, the Leonhardt Consort, Tokyo Baroque, La Petite Bande, the Ricercar Consort, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

      He worked as continuo player with several famous directors – e.g. Frans Brüggen, Gustav Leonhardt and Jos van Veldhoven- with whom he co-operated for recordings (CD, radio, TV) and opera-productions (for Ricercar, Denon, Philips, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Sony and Telefunken), in most of the European countries, Israel, Japan, Russia, Mexico and the United States. Also as a soloist on harpsichord and clavichord he gave numerous performances throughout the world.

      He is continuo player (organ and harpsichord) of the Netherlands Bach Society, forms a duo with Lucia Swarts and forms the duo ‘Der prallende Doppelschlag’ with Menno van Delft on two clavichords, harpsichords or organs.

      Siebe Henstra has given a number of masterclasses in Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, Japan, the USA, Mexico, Catalunya, and the Czech Republic. He teaches harpsichord since 1988 at the Utrecht conservatory and was professor 2017-2021 at the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague. He is asked regularly as member of the jury for competitions as well as for examinations of several conservatories.

       

      Sebo Ebbens

      Learning expert and study coach

       

      More about Sebo Ebbens

      Experienced teacher. Connected to Tibetan buddhism since 1978. Skilled in coaching, meditation, teaching, writing, and public speaking. Strong development professional. Has a PhD in ‘Self-regulated learning’ from the University of Nijmegen (1994). Wrote three well-known books about learning and teaching (1994, 1st edition – 2020, 4th edition). Writes since 2013 about buddhism. He wrote a book in 2013 about the Five Wisdoms in Tibetan buddhism for adults (Stralend in de Wereld), and another book about the same topic for students in the age group 16-28 years old (Vijf x Eigen-Wijs, 2017). He also wrote a book about the Tibetan Book of Dead, adjusted to the Dutch situation: ‘On the waves of birth and death (op de golven van geboorte en dood, 2019)’. A third book about friendliness and compassion was published in May 2022. It is called ‘Friendly and Full of Compassion’ (Vriendelijk en vol mededogen). All buddhist books are in Dutch and published by Asoka. Further he wrote some smaller books he did publish himself: the Wheel of Life (het Levensrad), Getting Familiar with Compassion, the Slogans of Atisha (Vertrouwd raken met mededogen, de slogans van Atisha), and Seven Life Lessons from the Tibetan Book of Dead (Zeven levenslessen vanuit het Tibetaanse dodenboek).

       

      Questions?

      Please contact us!

      academy@cellowerckenzutphen.nl