Erik Bosgraaf is regarded as one of the world’s most virtuoso recorder players, and he is definitely the most adventurous. The recorder is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and possibilities for him. He improvises, plays jazz, works with electronics and seeks collaboration in other art disciplines, for example with film makers (Werner Herzog, Paul and Menno de Nooijer). Bosgraaf is also a gifted conductor. Collegium Musicum Riga in Latvia has appointed him principle guest conductor. He is artistic director of the London International Festival of Early Music (LIFEM).

Bosgraaf’s repertoire extends from medieval to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to the music of tomorrow. For him there is no essential distinction between old and new music. ‘Early music is always new,’ in his opinion. About a hundred works have been written for him, including twelve solo concertos (Willem Jeths, Theo Loevendie, Anna Meredith and others). Pierre Boulez personally granted him permission to edit his clarinet composition Dialogue de l’ombre double for recorder. In 2019 he gave the world premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Fratres in his own version for recorder in Tallinn, Estonia.

Bosgraaf’s recording of Jacob van Eyck’s Der Fluyten Lust-hof marked his international breakthrough in 2006. Since then, numerous other CDs have been released, mainly on the Brilliant Classics label. He makes most of the recordings with his Ensemble Cordevento, with whom he also performed from Utrecht to Hong Kong. As a soloist he has played with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden, the Dutch Radio Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Duisburger Philharmoniker, the Residentie Orchestra TheHague, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, among others. In February 2017, at the invitation of Jaap van Zweden, he conducted the Hong Kong Philharmonic as a soloist. Concerto Köln accompanied him in 2021 at his solo debut at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

When he is not performing as a soloist, Bosgraaf leads orchestras as an experienced continuo player from behind the harpsichord, or from the front. In 2009 he received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award (2009), two years later he was the first recorder player to receive the Dutch Music Prize. Bosgraafteaches at the music academy in Kraków (Poland), is a regular guest teacher at the conservatories of Amsterdam and Taipei, and gives masterclasses all over the world.

erikbosgraaf.com, earlymusic.lv