From the 1st of December, the Royal Conservatory is proud to welcome a new head of the Classical department: Eleonoor Tchernoff. She succeeds her predecessor, Marlon Titre.

Eleonoor Tchernoff is not new to many within the Royal Conservatoire. With her higher education diplomas as a violinist and in musicology, she has built up an impressive career in the Netherlands but also internationally. With her broad knowledge of national and European higher music education, as well as her knowledge of and experience within the musical professional field, she will complement the Classical department with vision and decisiveness.

Tchernoff (1981) studied violin at the Utrecht Conservatory and musicology at the University of Amsterdam. In recent years she has worked as an independent consultant on advisory processes in higher education and the cultural sector, including for the University of the Arts The Hague, and with MusiQuE for the Flemish Department of Economy, Science and Innovation. As NVAO secretary, she was also involved in accreditation procedures in higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders. Before that, Eleonoor worked for seven years at the Royal Conservatoire, as assistant head of Classical and later as education policy officer. Previously she was a freelance violinist and violin teacher, and project manager at the European Association of Conservatoires. Eleonoor is an orchestra advisor to the Council for Culture and is chairman of the board of the contemporary music ensemble Kluster5.

Eleonoor: 'It is particularly special for me to return to the Royal Conservatoire in this role. I look forward to (re)connecting with students, teachers, colleagues, and partners both in the Netherlands and abroad. Together, I aim to further cultivate a thriving Classical department where care for the musical tradition goes hand in hand with openness and curiosity about what the future may hold.'