Recorder31 Day 2 | Side-By-Side Interview: Erik Bosgraaf & Tom de Vries

A popular feature of Recorder31 over the past few years has been the Side-By-Side Interviews, where two players come together to interview each other about their lives in the professional recorder world. We're delighted that the series is back for 2026, and today's interview features one of the world's foremost recorder soloists chatting to one of the most exciting names to have emerged in recorder making in recent years.

This week, renowned recorder virtuoso Erik Bosgraaf takes part in his second Side-By-Side Interview – we'll be hearing lots from Erik during this year's Recorder31, so it's the perfect chance to catch up with him and his current projects. He's joined by rising Dutch recorder maker Tom de Vries, whose instruments have found their way into the hands of many of the recorder scene's eminent professionals in recent years.

About the artists

Erik Bosgraaf is generally considered to be one of the world’s most virtuosic recorder players, and certainly the most adventurous. Moreover, he is an inspiring conductor. To Erik, his instrument is an inexhaustible source of inspiration, with endless possibilities. He improvises, plays jazz, utilizes electronics and likes working with people in other areas of artistic endeavour such as cinematography. His repertoire extends from medieval music to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to tomorrow’s music. For Erik there is no fundamental difference between historical and contemporary repertoire. He is of the opinion that ‘early music is always new’. As a soloist he is regularly invited to lead the orchestra himself. If not playing the recorder, he leads from the harpsichord or – in classical and later repertoire for chamber orchestra – conducts from the front. www.erikbosgraaf.com

Recorder making has always fascinated Tom de Vries. The different makers, historical models, the wide variety of woods, it was all very interesting to him, even as a young recorder player. So after finishing his history studies in 2014, Tom took a recorder making course and a few years later in 2018 he established his own workshop making recorders professionally. Having studied history in an academic setting allows Tom, almost paradoxically, to detach from history. In his own words: "I’m aware that we are living today, not in the past and are only capable of looking at the past in our own modern context. By definition we cannot exactly recreate the past because we live now. So trying to achieve this would be impossible. Bach’s music was not called early music or baroque music when he lived, but just ‘music’. So I make recorders that work optimal now playing music in a modern setting and answering to the wishes of the musicians of today. My recorders are performance instruments, maximizing the playing qualities, such as volume, dynamics, speech, range, etc." www.devriesrecorders.nl

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REMINDER! Today is your last chance to save in our Handmade Recorders Promotion – click the image below to explore the full collection now!

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Today is your last chance to save in our Handmade Recorders promotion – click here to explore the full collection before the offers end! Here's some audio samples of a very special instrument – a pristine Bressan Alto in Stained Boxwood by Thomas Prescott. Following his retirement a few years ago, Prescott instruments are now hugely sought-after and this example is in as new condition, with a beautifully full, rich sound. Check out the audio clips below or follow this link to find out more about this instrument.