From artful swing of Count Basie and Frank Sinatra, the demure vulnerability of Billie Holiday and Miles Davis, the rousing bop of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, to the sophisticated improvisations of Oscar Peterson and Dave Brubeck; it will be a feast of recognition for some, and for others, an enthusiastic introduction – or reintroduction- to a ever-present genre of music which has always been embraced, and celebrated. 

The Round Midnight Orchestra does not have a fixed location. They perform all over the world, from intimate jazz clubs to large-scale festivals. The last years, their tours included South Africa, India, Thailand, and South America, where they captivated audiences with their passionate and swinging performances.

With the Round Midnight Orchestra, you get not only a dose of exhilarating jazz but also an unforgettable experience that takes you to the jazz hotspots of yesteryear. The music comes to life, the stories are told, and the audience is swept away into a world of timeless musical beauty. The Round Midnight Orchestra embodies the spirit of jazz and continues to be a source of inspiration for enthusiasts around the world.

Alexander Beets

Alexander Beets started his musical education by his mother at the age of six not only on the piano, but some time later also on the clarinet, an instrument causing her some trouble. This notwithstanding he proved an apt pupil and private tuition was soon initiated. After switching from clarinet to tenor-saxophone it became obvious that his main interest was definitely not the piano.

With his brothers he started playing jazz and soon thereafter was performing on many different stages on a relatively large scale. With his extremely lyric tone-picture he proved to be able to enchant his audiences ever more.

Contrary to his elder and younger brother Alexander, after finishing high-school, did not enrol in a conservatory, but took up a study in organizational-management, at first at bachelor-level and finishing off with a masters-degree. All the time however he kept on playing with tremendous success. He recorded with other famous tenor players as Hans Dulfer, Houston Person and Ronnie Cuber.

With his masters-degree in organizational management besides being one of Holland’s most sought-after saxophone-players he is pre-eminently suited to teach music-management at university-level. Apart from that he conducts courses and seminars in international artist-management, with renowned speakers from all over the world, just recently India and Brazil.

He runs his own music agency, Maxanter Muziekproducties, leading booking-office for jazz and together with his brother Marius he owns a record-company with about thirty releases per year. Although he can hardly find the time to play he aims to curtail his activities so that he can be on stage with his beloved saxophone more often.

ben van der dungen

Ben van den Dungen, born October 29th 1960 in the Hague, is a renowned dutch jazz musician (soprano- and tenorsaxophone). When he completed his studies at the internationally acclaimed Royal Conservatory of The Hague in 1988, he had already made a name for himself in the dutch music scene as a gifted and solicited jazz sax player.

He joined the international Latin Jazz band Nueva Manteca in 1983, of which he’s been part of ever since and one year later he founded his famous jazz quintet together with the dutch modern jazz trumpetist Jarmo Hoogendijk. This quintet has released numerous albums and went on several successful tours throughout Europe between 1985 and 2004. As a consequence of the resulting international acclaim, they were awarded the NOS Meervaart Jazzprijs in 1985 and the Nicolai Award in 1987. During these days he also played in the supergroup by dutch pianist Louis van Dijk.

Another significant phase of Ben van den Dungen’s career was when he increasingly dedicated himself to the genre of world music. To this end he endeavoured on extensive study trips to Cuba, Columbia and India. Consequently, he joined renowned latin fusion bands like Fra Fra Sound and Tango Extremo. Moreover, he plays numerous concerts all around the world with the New York Round Midnight music-theatre production and his famous jazz quartet. In the course of his career, next to being an active and much solicited musician himself, he has been teaching his skills to aspiring students at the Conservatory of Rotterdam (Codarts) and at other renowned dutch conservatories.

Peter Beets

Peter Beets is a world class jazz pianist: he has shared the stage with jazz greats like Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, “Toots” Thielemans, Elvin Jones, George Coleman, Johnny Griffin, Benny Golson and John Clayton. He recorded with Jeff Hamilton, Larry Grenadier, Greg Hutchinson and Curtis Fuller and in 2001 his album “New York Trio” was released, which brought him international acclaim.  His brothers Marius (1966) and Alexander (1968) also became professionals, on string bass and tenor saxophone. From 1985 the brothers performed together as “The Beets Brothers”.

In 1988 Peter won the prestigious Pall Mall Swing Award and a year later the Princess Christina Award. In 1996, Peter recorded a remarkable trio album called “First Date” with drummer Jeff Hamilton. Peter became a much-solicited pianist both inside and outside the Netherlands, accompanying, among others, “First Lady of Jazz” Rita Reys. In 1998 he finished his conservatory studies and won the Prix Martial Solal in Paris. In the same year he became the regular pianist of “The Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw”. With trombone and jazz legend Curtis Fuller.

The Peter Beets Trio has been successfully touring in most countries in Europe as well as in Asia, Russia, the USA and Japan. Memorable are his performances at Tokyo Jazz Festival (2011 and 2015), Java Jazz Festival (2014 and 2015), North Sea Jazz Festival (2014, 2015 and 2016), Salle Pleyel in Paris, Lincoln Center Rose Hall, Birdland and Blue Note in New York (2014, 2015 and 2016) and the Newport Jazz Festival (2014 Yoshi’s in Oakland and the Composer’s Union Hall in Moscow. An extraordinary duet for two grand pianos with Chick Corea in the main hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw resulted in regular performances of Peter’s trio there. In March 2017 Peter Beets played a duet on two grand pianos with Grammy award-winning Roger Kellaway at the opening of a new jazz series in the Sheen Center in New York and in June he appeared again for concerts in Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Deborah J. Carter

Vocalist Deborah J. Carter was born in the U.S.A. and grew up in Hawaii and Japan. She travels extensively performing in jazz festivals, jazz clubs, seminars, and radio and TV shows throughout Europe and Asia with her trio or as a guest with various formations from solo pianists to large orchestras. While on tour, she has also given master classes all over the world.

Deborah is also currently the Professor of Jazz Vocals at the Musikene Music Conservatory in San Sebastian, Spain. This prestigious school, in the Basque region of Spain, was founded in 2001 by the Basque Government through the establishment of a private foundation.

This vocalist / composer / arranger definitely brings her multi – cultural experiences into her music. “We are so privileged in this day and age to have an open door to other cultures and perspectives that enrich our own.” And she brings it to light through her style. Described by the Music Maker magazine as “absolutely top-class”, she is one of the most dynamic vocalists in the jazz scene.

Besides working with her own group, with whom she performs many of her own arrangements and compositions, Deborah also loves to sing the great jazz classics as a guest artist with a number of established European jazz orchestras. Some of these are: the Metropole Orchestra, the HR (Frankfurt Radio) Big Band, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sedavi Latin Jazz Big Band with Mike Mossman (arranger for Tito Puente), the Berlin Jazz Orchestra, the Holland Big Band, the Berlin Opera House Symphony Orchestra and Big Band, the Croatian Radio & TV Orchestra among others.

Izaline Calister

Izaline Calister (Curaçao, 1969), Edison Award winner in 2009, has built an impressive track record in the past 12 years. With her charming style she gathered a loyal group of fans worldwide. Sometimes modest, then exciting again, Izaline possesses the exceptional gift that makes all the difference for a soloist, as she sings in her mother tongue, Papiamentu, with feeling and grace. She has this ability to remain true to her roots and successfully reach out and conquer audiences around the world singing in an unfamiliar language, while seamlessly melding the pulsating rhythms of Afro-Antilles music with Jazz.

The songs „Wow’i Kariño“, „Kanta Hélele“, „Sa Sa Na Awasa“, „Bendisiona“ and more recent „Reina di Pordon“ were number 1 hits in the Caribbean. Her studio albums „Sono di un Muhé“, „Mariposa“, „Krioyo“,„Kanta Hélele“, „Speransa“ and „Rayo di Lus“ are released worldwide.

Izalines music is a fusion between the traditional music of her birth island Curaçao, and jazz with Afro-Caribbean influences. With her great band and special composed sets she is able to charm her audience on any occasion. Izaline performs throughout Europe, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Korea, the U.S.A.and South America and she played on many national and international festivals such as the Cape Town Jazz Festival, Rome Jazz Festival, Cervantino Festival Mexico, Sofia and the North Sea Jazz Festival.

The BBC made and broadcasted a mini-documentary about Izaline in 2006. In 2007 Izaline sings for the Queen during the Liberation Festival, accompanied by the Metropole Orchestra. In 2010 Izaline was asked by the United Nations to perform a song at their head office in New York during the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery. She played there with the world famous guitarist and producer Nile Rodgers. Izaline worked together with so many musicians and artists. In 2011 she toured through the Dutch theatres called Nomads in cooperation with the Brazilian singer Lilian Vieira and the Moluccan singer Julya L’Oko.

Miguel Rodriguez

Born in Madrid in October 15th 1983, Miguel Rodriguez discovered the piano at the age of six and studied in an autodidactic way for several years. After a fleeting classical studies at the “Joaquin Turina” Conservatory in Madrid he moved to Holland in 2005 to study Jazz Piano. In June 2009 he graduated “Cum Laude” at the Rotterdam Conservatorium (Codarts) and obtained the Bachelor Degree of Jazz Piano.

In May 2011 he graduated and received the Jazz Piano Master Degree at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.
Currently, Miguel Rodriguez is actively working in the dutch jazz scene as the leader of his own band and his own trio, being selected for the Young VIP’s Tour in 2014. Besides, he’s part of many other bands highlighting the Ben Van Den Dungen Quartet, the Benjamin Herman Quartet, the Maarten Hogenhuis Quartet and the successful musical production “New York Round Midnight”.

As a guest pianist he’s been invited to play with the JOC (Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw), Powerhouse Big Band with Marius Beets, Bob Sands Big Band, Alain Pérez Latin-jazz Band, BvR Flamenco Big Band (Flamenco Biennale 2015), etc.

As a side-man he has worked with the majority of the most well-known musicians from Holland as Ferdinand Povel, Ruud Jacobs, Eric Ineke, Sjoerd Dijkhuizen, Simon Rigter, John Ruocco, Jasper Blom, Martijn van Iterson, Martijn Vink, Joost van Schaik, etc., as well as from the USA, like Branford Marsalis, Donald Harrison, the quintet of Willie Jones III, Peter Bernstein, Terell Stafford or Deborah Brown.
He has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2009 (Codarts Big Band conducted by Maria Schneider), 2012 (Benjamin Herman Quartet) and 2014 (Ben van den Dungen Quartet).
On tour, he has traveled with different bands all over Europe, Russia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and South America.

Rolf delfos

Rolf Delfos is a renowned dutch alto and soprano sax player, who is active in many national and international jazz formations such as the famous Houdinis and his own saxofone quartet Artvark. He contributed to over 50 albums, is an accomplished composer and arranger, and in addition to that is carrying out a great many other functions: he is the head of the big band Licks & Brains, teaches at the Conservatory in Zwolle/The Netherlands and is responsible for the rubric Dutch Jazz on Sublime FM. Moreover, he manages musicians’ concerns at the foundation for „Exploitatie van Naburige Rechten“ (SENA).

Marius beets

Double-Bass player Marius Beets started his musical upbringing at the age of six on the piano. Shortly thereafter he furthermore began acquiring proficiency on the guitar, at first the acoustic variant, later on the electric guitar and the bass-guitar. He still is an accomplished pianist, an indispensable proviso for his composing- and orchestrating work.

Marius is a much-belauded musician in the international scene. This is undoubtedly the result of his many concerts with the Beets Brothers and many other jazz-formations, as well as his way of playing. That is dubbed by his fellow-musicians as “rock-steady”. It is extremely stable with a masterly timing. It comes as no surprise his contribution can be heard on an imposing number of albums.

He shared the stage with jazz-celebreties as f.i. Teddy Edwards, James Moody, Bud Shank, Johnny Griffin, Herb Geller, George Coleman and many others. He recorded albums with famous drummer legend Jeff Hamilton as well as with Jiggs Wigham and recently Ronnie Cuber.

Marius is much asked for by Holland’s First Lady of Jazz Rita Reys. This is not only by virtue of his outstanding musical qualities, but also of the way he knows how to lay the foundation for an unshakable rhythm-section. Furthermore he participated in cross-over projects with classical orchestras as The Schönberg Ensemble, Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam and the Brabants Orkest. Besides playing double-bass he is also a recognized composer and arranger and also a sound-engineer with his own recording-studio.

ellister van der molen

Jazz came early to Ellister. By the age of 12 her father was taking her to concerts where she had the opportunity to hear masters of the Dutch jazz scene including Ferdinand Povel and Jarmo Hoogendijk. Ellister was admitted to the Young Talent department of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague on classical trumpet, but she knew already that jazz was her true passion. This passion soon led her to jazz studies with some of the finest players and teachers in Holland, including Jarmo Hoogendijk, Ack van Rooyen and Frans Elsen.

Today Ellister is invited to perform all over the world in a great variety of musical contexts. She has played on a number of recordings, and has performed as a guest soloist with the Rein de Graaff trio, the Nationaal Jeugd Jazz Orkest (NJJO) and with the Dublin Jazz Orchestra. Meanwhile, Ellister is also focusing more and more on her development as a bandleader, composer and arranger. Her recent CD Smalls NYC got a very positive response and led to a performance at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

Wouter Kühne

Wouter Kühne (born 1996) is a young, versatile and greatly talented jazz drummer from The Netherlands, who is considered one of the most promising musicians of the scene right now. When he was only 13 he began to study at the Junior Jazz College of the Conservatory in Amsterdam, where he had classes with Gerhard Jeltes. At the age of 16 he had his first concert at the North Sea Jazz Festival. 2017 he won the golden band of the Sena Performers, an award which is given to the most promising young aspiring jazz artists of the scene. In the course of his studies at the Conservatory Amsterdam he was taught by Martijn Vink, Marcel Serierse and Lucas van Merwijk. Moreover, he took part in masterclasses by legendary jazz drummers like Willie Jones III, John Riley, Greg Hutchinson, Dennis Mackrel and Billy Hart. During his flourishing career Wouter has shared the stage with jazz greats like Benjamin Herman, Simon Rigter, Jasper Blom, dem Jazz Orchestra des Concertgebouw, John Ruocco, Henk Meutgeert, Ben van Gelder, Joris Roelofs, Reinier Baas, Maarten Hogenhuis, Joe Cohn, Dick Oatts, Miguel Rodríguez, and Martijn van Iterson.

Kika Sprangers

At the moment Kika is developing her musicianship on many different levels: she plays with the Jazz Archipel Utrecht (amongst others with Marc Scholten and Ad Colen) and in a trio with Martin Fondse and the cello player Jörg Brinkmann. Moreover, she is part of the successful music theatre show Swingin’ Harlem and New York Round Midnight. All the while she invests much time and effort into her own quintet and Large Ensemble (a continuation of her formation with 3 singers and a four-person brass section). Performing highlights of these formations were at the InJazz, Tivolo Cloud Nine and the Grachtenfestival in Amsterdam. In February 2017 Kika’s first EP „Leaves of Lily“ was released, consisting of her own compositions played by her quintet and Large Ensemble. This album was awarded 4 stars in the Parool magazine and Kika was described as „a strong personality with a mature sound, flair and enthusiasm“. In 2018 Kika was selected as Young Vip 2018, a title awarded to the most promising young jazz talents in The Netherlands. Under this title she toured throughout the Netherlands with her quintet and Large Ensemble between March and Mid-May 2018 and performed in famous dutch jazz clubs and festivals (Bimhuis, Transition Festival, LantarenVenster, etc.). In July 2018 Kika Sprangers and her quintet hit the stage at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

Cas Jiskoot

Cas Jiskoot (1998, The Hague) started playing guitar when he was seven years old. Five years later he started to play electric and acoustic bass. He had lessons with a.o. Olaf Tarenskeen, Patrick Kockelkoren, Frans van Geest, Jeroen Vierdag, Clemens van der Feen, Marius Beets and Ron Carter and he played with a.o. Robert Veen, Simon Rigter, Jasper Blom, Ben van Gelder, Caspar van Wijk, Dmitry Baevsky, Jasper van Damme, Ruud Breuls, Peter Beets, Juraj Stanik, Karel Boehlee, Timothy Banchet, Martijn van Iterson, Marcel Serierse, Joost van Schaik, Gijs Dijkhuizen, Joost Patocka, Joost Lijbaart, Mark Schilders and many others.