Jacques Zoon

The flutist Jacques Zoon, who was born in Heiloo, Netherlands, in 1961, studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Koos Verheul and Harrie Starreveld; he also took master classes with Geoffrey Gilbert and András Adorján at the Banff Centre for the Arts. A prize winner at the Concours Jean-Pierre Rampal in Paris and the Scheveningen International Music Competition, he was appointed Principal Flutist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in 1988, where he remained for nine years. During this time, he also played Principal Flute in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In 1997, Zoon joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he was named Musician of the Year by the Boston Globe in 1998. Jacques Zoon has been a freelance musician since 2001, performing worldwide as a soloist. He worked closely with Claudio Abbado in the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, where he has served as Principal Flutist since its founding in 2003, and also in the Orchestra Mozart, with which he recorded Mozart’s Flute Concerto, K. 314. Zoon also performs regularly with the Berlin Baroque Soloists, with whom he has recorded concerts and symphonies by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. He received the Edison Award for his album of contemporary flute music, which he recorded with pianist Bernd Brackman. Zoon has served as professor of flute at the Rotterdam Conservatory (1988–92), Indiana University (1994–97), and the New England Conservatory in Boston (1997–2001). Since 2002, he has taught at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, and since 2008 he has also been a professor at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid and at the Instituto Internacional de Música de Cámara there. Jacques Zoon has also made significant contributions to the technical development of his instrument, producing new wooden flute models with an improved playing system, which he markets through the Zoon&Maia Flute Company, founded together with his colleague Rui Borges Maia.

Jacques Zoon, who began performing regularly at Lucerne Festival since the end of the 1980s as a member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, has appeared here every year since 2003 as principal flutist with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.

June 2025