Theun van Nieuwburg began his musical career at an early age as timpanist with the North Holland Youth Orchestra.
Theun van Nieuwburg
Principal timpani
He studied at the Utrecht School of the Arts with Hans Zonderop, Johan Faber and Werner Otten, where he received his Master of Music degree in 2005. He also took several master classes with Rainer Seegers, Marinus Komst and Nick Woud, among others. In 2002 he was timpanist and percussionist at the Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival.
At the Freiburger Barockorchester, Theun van Nieuwburg learned how to play on authentic timpani. As a timpanist, he worked with Holland Symfonia, Orkest van het Oosten, Het Gelders Orkest, Het Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He was a percussionist with the Japanese taiko group Circle Percussion and samba group Absurdo. Since 2014, he has been timpanist with the Netherlands Philharmonic and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. He also teaches timpani at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He plays on Schnellar timpani.
Podcast with Theun van Nieuwburg
As an eight-year-old boy he played on a far too large accordion during Queen's Day and raised 150 guilders within an hour and a half. Nevertheless, Theun eventually became a timpanist. In the following episode of Klankcast he tells how he came into contact with this instrument, which key figure played an important role and how he was accepted by the Noord-Hollands Jeugdorkest without even being able to read a note.