About

From the moment Tirza Leenman could walk, she started dancing and singing to the music she heard. This resulted in her taking Ballet lessons from the age of six for almost ten years. One of her former teachers said: “When I first started teaching I had no idea what music to put on that suited the exercises. 6-year-old Tirza took over and always found the right music for each dance.”

The musicality that was showing, blossomed further when she started to play the flute, at the age of 8, having lessons with Karin de Jong at the CKC in Zoetermeer. She joined several competitions, and won several prizes, among them a first price at the Benelux Fluitconcours when Tirza was 13 years old, and the main award at the same competition when she was 17. She has also been nominated for a public award for art and culture in her hometown Zoetermeer.

Currently, Tirza is studying for her master’s degree at the Royal Conservatoire in Den Haag, studying with Jeroen Bron. During her masterstudies she is part of the Orchestra Master (with the Residentie Orchestra) and the Ensemble Academy (for more information see their website). She has had masterclasses with many flutists, among whom Emily Beynon, Peter-Lukas Graf and William Bennett.

As a soloist she has had the opportunity to perform with both the Rijnlands Symfonie Orkest, and the LSKO “Collegium Musicum”. With Collegium Musicum she played the world premier of a Romance for flute and string orchestra, by the Croatian composer Anamarija Skara.

Tirza is also an enthusiastic chambermusic player, nowadays being part of the Ongestreken ensemble, an unconventional group of instruments (flute, clarinet, bassoon, trombone, harp), performing music arranged themselves, from a wide musical range. She is also a member of “Orkest Morgenstond”, an ensemble that brings music in various (unconventional) places in the neighbourhood “Morgenstond” in The Hague.

Both as a principal and second/piccolo player, Tirza played in several orchestra’s, for example the Ricciotti ensemble (with Leonard Evers), Royal Conservatoire Orchestra (with Jac van Steen) and the New Mannheim Choir & Orchestra (with Quentin Clare).

As a solo performer, chamber musician, and orchestral player Tirza played in many places and types of venues. She has opened art exhibitions, played at festivals, performed in for example the Concertgebouw, de Doelen and Tivoli Vredenburg, but also in prisons, schools, hospitals…