"Anybody capable of rendering every note with such clarity may rightfully call himself a full-fledged soloist", were the words used by the Dutch press to describe Tjeerd Top's playing.Tjeerd Top started playing the violin at the age of eight. In 2000 he graduated with honors from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (Netherlands) after studying with Qui van Woerdekom and Jaring Walta. For his Master Degree he continued his studies with Alexander Kerr at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where again he graduated with honors. Tjeerd Top was first prize winner of the Dutch National Violin Competition Oskar Back. In this same competition he also won the Kersjes van de Groenekan-prize together with pianist Mariken Zandvliet for their interpretation of a contemporary work written by Carlos Micháns. Together with Lavinia Meijer (harp) he won the Fortis MeesPeirson Award. As a soloist Tjeerd Top has performed with several of the leading orchestras and conductors, Hans Vonk, Vassily Sinaisky and Peter Oundjian and Michael Lankester a.o. He made concert tours to India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, The Netherland Antilles and Lebanon. Tjeerd is the associate concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. He plays a violin built by Michael Angelo Bergonzi (Cremona 1750), provided by the National Music-Instument Fund.