Royal decoration awarded to Jan Kouwenhoven

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Former teacher Jan Kouwenhoven was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau on April 26. Jan was an oboist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for more than forty years. At the Conservatorium Amsterdam, he was principal subject teacher of oboe since 2003 and Head of Woodwinds from 2013 to 2018.

Jan came up with the idea of comparing the top performances that musicians have to achieve in orchestral auditions, for example, with sports performances, which also place special demands on physical and mental preparation. Based on his research into the applicability of knowledge from sports training in music studies, he developed a course in audition training. He was also involved in the Study Lab, a project in which selected students from the fourth bachelor year experiment with study methods based on insights from sports training.

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