urriaan Berger (born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1976) likes to make music on anything that produces sounds. In his teenage years he played drums, guitar, bass and tenor saxophone. Besides this, he had classical piano lessons. Gradually he became more interested in jazz and improvised music. So he decided, after musical wanderings in various areas, to study jazz piano at the Amsterdam Conservatorium. He graduated from the Bachelor (2004) and Master of Music (2007) programme.
In his playing, he likes to improvise freely, but with a sense of structure and form, infusing his jazz background with elements from rock/pop, world music, and classical music. This approach can be heard on the first CD of his trio earswideopen, with bass player Felix Hildenbrand and drummer/ percussionist Achim Heine. It was released to enthusiastic reviews in the spring of 2011.
Besides playing, Jurriaan has been composing and arranging for a wide range of ensembles and occasions, from pop songs to chamber pieces – often with unusual combinations of instruments (e.g. church organ with tablas, ud and ney) and with room for improvising. He has taught piano, music theory and improvisation, both to groups and individual students.

www.earswideopen.nl