Tim Kliphuis

Award-winning Dutch violinist Tim Kliphuis has created a brand new style that embraces classical, gypsy jazz and folk. Hailed as a ‘current-day improvising Paganini’, his inclusive and innovative approach to music has united audiences and is influencing a new generation of string players.

As a composer, Kliphuis has dedicated his art to the challenges on our planet. His climate change suite ‘The Five Elements’ accompanied the Royal mission to Stockholm to much acclaim, and Triple Concerto ‘Phoenix Rising’ (commissioned by NTR ZaterdagMatinee) considers our past, present and future.

An in-demand educator and author of the best-selling book “Gypsy Jazz Violin”, Tim is Professor of String Improvisation at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam and Director of the gypsy jazz summer school Grappelli-Django Camp. In 2022, he started the world’s first comprehensive online course for jazz violin, Tim Kliphuis Studio.

As a Sony Classical artist, Kliphuis recorded Vivaldi-inspired ‘Reflecting the Seasons’ in 2016, followed by ‘Brandenburg’, based on Bach’s Concertos, and his own ‘Ulysses’ Violin Concerto in 2018. He was awarded the Scottish Jazz Award, South African Woordfees Award and the Polish ‘Swing Raven’ Prize.

After his master’s degree in classical violin at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, Kliphuis studied with the European Sinti gypsies. He recorded and toured with gypsy guitar legends Fapy Lafertin, The Rosenberg Trio and Angelo Debarre.

An invitation to the Richard Strauss Festival in Germany started the Tim Kliphuis Trio (Nigel Clark, guitar and Roy Percy, double bass) whose mission is a ‘total music’ without stylistic barriers. They performed at the Amsterdam Canal Concert, curated the world fiddle night at Celtic Connections Glasgow, celebrated Stéphane Grappelli at the Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois-sur-Seine and shared the stage with Les Paul, Richard Galliano, Frankie Gavin, Martin Hayes and Daniel Hope. The Trio collaborated with the Netherlands and Tallinn Chamber Orchestras, The Hague and Cape Town Philharmonic and Sinfonietta Amsterdam and toured America, South Africa and Russia.

In between Trio tours and orchestral projects, the Tim Kliphuis Sextet with Nigel Clark, Roy Percy and string players Janneke van Prooijen, Frank Brakkee and Charles Watt continues to wow audiences across Europe: a colourful crossover approach to classical and jazz music.

Tim Kliphuis is a DPA Microphones, Pirastro Strings and Zeta Violin artist.