Finnish-Dutch cellist Jonathan Roozeman has established himself as an artist of exceptional musicality. His phenomenal, expansive and versatile sound lends itself not only to works of the core classic repertory, but also to those by Kabelevsky, Kokkonen, Vieuxtemps and Sallinen. He has collaborated with conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Sakari Oramo, Michael Sanderling, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Klaus Mäkelä.

Recent highlights include performances at the ARK Classical Festival in Tokyo, with the Turku Philharmonic, Bilkent Symphony, Gulbenkian Foundation, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In previous seasons, Jonathan gave a series of performances as part of a project between the Sibelius Academy and the Juilliard School of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Mania under the baton of the composer in Helsinki, Stockholm, and at New York’s Lincoln Center. Jonathan’s debut recording of the Cello Concerto No. 2 by Kalevi Aho, released by BIS records in 2023, was awarded five stars by BBC Classical Music Magazine. In 2025, Jonathan will join choreographers Saburo Teshigawara and Rihoko Sato on a recurring collaboration on Garden in the Sky, a production that premiered in 2022 at the Aichi Prefectural Art Theater Concert Hall in Nagoya. The project combines dance with music for solo cello by Kodály, Bach, and Cassadó.

In recital, Jonathan has appeared at the Berlin Konzerthaus as part of Sir András Schiff’s residency, as well as a debut recital tour in Canada, which included the prestigious Vancouver Recital Series. Other highlights include the Ark Hills Festival in Tokyo and a debut recital at the Concertgebouw in recital with pianist Varvara.

As one of the leading interpreters of the contemporary Finnish cello repertoire, he has become an essential advocate for many of Finland’s leading composers. His close collaboration with composer Kalevi Aho led to the commissioning of a Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, which was written for and premiered by Roozeman and violinist Christel Lee in 2024. His highly anticipated album on the BIS label, which includes new commissions by Sauli Zinovjev and Cecilia Damström, as well as solo works by Sebastian Fagerlund, Lauri Porra and Outi Tarkiainen, is expected for release in 2025.

Jonathan was the youngest prizewinner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2015 and won the second prize at the National Cello Competition in the Netherlands in 2012. Born in Finland to a musical family, Roozeman studied with Martti Rousi at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and later at the Kronberg Academy and the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar with Frans Helmerson and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.