Marc Scholten

Biography

Marc Scholten was born in 1962 in Arnhem, the Netherlands. At the age of 12 he began playing the alto saxophone, with Guus Tangelder as his teacher.
In 1981 he began to study saxophone at the Conservatory of Utrecht.
He was trained in both classical and jazz music, doubling on (bass)clarinet and flute.
Under the tutelage of Ed Bogaard, Andre Hemmers and Iwan Roth, he graduated with a education degree in classical saxophone in 1987(DM) and a performance degree in 1989(UM).

In the same year he was the saxophone soloist with the string orchestra of the HKU directed by Wiktor Lieberman.
In 1989 Marc received his degree in Jazz studies as well. (DM + UM). His professors were Piet Noordijk and Albert Beltman.

During his last years of study at the conservatory, Marc was already sitting in for a large number of groups and orchestras, such as the Skymasters, the Dutch Jazz Orchestra, the Metropole Orchestra, the Ebony Band, The Noord Hollands Philharmonic, the Timeless Orchestra a.o.

Since 1991 he has had a steady job with the Metropole Orchestra as the lead alto saxophonist. As a member of the Metropole Orchestra he has had the opportunity to play with the best jazz- and pop artists of our time, such as Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, the Brecker Brothers, Bob Mintzer, Mike Stern, Kenny Barron, Kenny Werner, Elvis Costello, Gino Vannelli, Ray Brown, Bob Malach, the Yellow Jackets, Bob Brookmeyer, Joe Cocker and many more.

In 2001 Marc was invited by the NPS to play lead alto in the EBU Jazz Orchestra in Istanbul, where several nationalities were represented.

Marc is also active in smaller groups. He was one of the founders of the Koh-I-Noor Saxophone Quartet (1985) en Oostenwind (1992) and he started in 2005 his own group “The Blindfold Test” with which he performs his own compositions. In 2006 his composition “ Before the jump” received an honorable mention at the International Songwriting Competition 2006.

Apart from that, he is a much sought after studio musician, doubling on all saxes, (bass)clarinet and flute. He can be heard on the RTL4 tv leaders, RTL 8, Cultura Net, Tweekamp, Viertakt, The Bachelor and Pulse.
Since 1993 Marc has been teaching at the Conservatory of Utrecht and since 2016 at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.