MIHAEL HRUSTELJ TRIO (Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia)
Mihael Hrustelj, guitar, vocals
Jeroen van der Ley, bass guitar
George Panaite, drums
The sound of the trio is a small encyclopedia of world fusion: Balkan traditions and elements of Indian classical music coexist with Western popular genres and European classical music.
Mihael Hrustelj is a composer, performer, and most importantly, guitarist. Originally from Slovenia, he has found a second home in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He is known for the uniqueness of mixing the sound of a nylon string classical guitar with guitar drumming, homemade electronic foot drum and different effects and voice explorations, making him recognizable and exciting to a broad audience around the world. His music has no limitations and is enriched with all the genres he learned about in the Rotterdam conservatory (classical music and jazz) and also through his personal experience (jazz, classical and world music, pop, folk and Balkan), and he can therefore not be described with one specific frame of genre. In November 2018, he released his new solo album ‘Fallen Leaves’. Ten original compositions, inspired by his roots, beautiful nature of Slovenia and the current city of Rotterdam.
Jeroen van der Ley is a Rotterdam based bass player. He was brought up in a musical family, and from an early age he was exposed to great music and musicians. At the age of 19, he picked up his first bass guitar and soon after applied for a spot in the Bachelor of Jazz program at the Conservatory in Utrecht. After graduating Cum Laude, he went on to do a masters study in Latin Music at the Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam. Jeroen plays with a variety of artists in a wide range of musical genres, but he mainly focuses on “world” orientated music styles.
George Panaite was born in 1991 in Bacau, Romania. He comes from a musical family, so he has always been surrounded by music. Later on, when he moved to Holland, he started playing drums and never went back. Soon after, he started playing with rock bands in local clubs. A few years later he decided to pursue a musical career and started studying at the Artez Conservatory where he mainly focused on jazz music. After graduating, he also studied for two years at the Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam, where he received his master’s degree in jazz music. Nowadays he plays a wide variety of styles in different bands and is also an experienced drum teacher.
Free admission.
