Director Jan Geert Vierkant leaves Metropole Orkest for Groninger Museum

After a period of 8 years, Jan Geert Vierkant will retire as director of the Metropole Orkest on 1 February 2025 to become business director of the Groninger Museum.

Since taking office in early 2017, Vierkant has focused primarily on the preservation and further development of this unique orchestra, which has experienced a number of difficult and uncertain years after becoming independent in 2013. For example, he has managed to get support for an increase in subsidies from both the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the municipality of Hilversum, which has strengthened the necessary financial basis. In line with this, he has made an important contribution to strengthening the position of the Metropole Orkest as the leading pop & jazz orchestra, also internationally. In addition to concerts throughout the country and recurring performances at festivals such as the BBC Proms, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Amsterdam Dance Event, the orchestra has also increasingly played at foreign festivals and in venues in the countries surrounding us in recent years.

Laetitia Griffith, Chair of the Supervisory Board: “We are grateful to Jan Geert for his efforts to anchor the Metropole Orchestra in the orchestral landscape and to give this fantastic orchestra the place and recognition it deserves. We wish him every success in his new position at the Groninger Museum.”