Flutist Ilonka Kolthof is praised for her "enchanting, precise and nuanced" flute playing.
At a young age, she won first prizes at competitions such as the Princess Christina Competition and the
Benelux Flute Competition. In 2017 her piccolo game was awarded the second prize at ‘The
Kujala International Piccolo Competition "and in 2014 with the third prize at" The NFA Piccolo Artist
Competition ’in Chicago. Kolthof performed as a soloist with, among others, Mokum Symphony and with the
former Limburg Symphony Orchestra. Last season she played piccolo by invitation
recital at the annual "National Flute Association's Convention" in San Diego (CA). On several occasions, she was a live guest at Radio 4 (dutch national radio for classical music).
In addition to being a soloist, Kolthof is a sought-after guest player with various orchestras at home and abroad,
including the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchester
Philharmonic Royal de Liège (BE), Antwerp Symphony Orchestra (BE), Norrköping Symphony
Orchestra (SE). As a chamber musician, she played at festivals such as the Grachtenfestival, Festival Day in the
Branding, Gergiev Festival, November Music, ZOOM! Festival, Classical Encounters and
Schoorl chamber music festival. Kolthof also plays in the contemporary DoelenEnsemble, with which she
made various international tours.
Kolthof is the founder of the Dutch Piccolo Project; a project that allows them to perform the piccolo as a solo
instrument and put it on the classical map. Because of her great commitment to the contemporary repertoire, she became
honored with grants from the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and the Willem Mengelberg Fonds from
the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Kolthof studied flute at the
Amsterdam Conservatory and piccolo at the Antwerp Royal Conservatory, where she graduated in 2015
with the "Grootste Onderscheiding". Kolthof is currently playing a beautiful Lillian Burkart piccolo
thanks in part to the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.