IDEMA/SERIERSE QUARTET

The Idema/Serierse Quartet takes centre stage at this edition of Friday Night Jazz at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in The Hague. The quartet features vocalist Anna Serierse, guitarist Gijs Idema, bassist Cas Jiskoot and drummer Tim Hennekes. The programme centres on their album Serenade in Blue (2025), recorded at the Roode Bioscoop in Amsterdam, featuring fresh arrangements of American Songbook classics. Serierse's voice serves not only as a narrative voice but also as an instrument, woven together with Idema's guitar lines - sometimes with lyrics, sometimes wordless.

Anna Serierse was inspired by jazz at a young age through Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and the Skymasters. She studied at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and recorded three albums with this quartet: Motus (2017), Cloud Studies (2023) and Serenade in Blue (2025). She has also performed with the Kika Sprangers Quintet, the close harmony group Cantorias and the Jan Alexander Group. She currently teaches at the Tilburg Conservatoire.

Gijs Idema studied at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and earned his master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. His influences include guitarists such as Joe Pass, Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery. He won the Prinses Christina Jazz Competition, the Leiden Jazz Award and the Expression of Art Award, and teaches at the Prins Claus Conservatoire in Groningen.

Cas Jiskoot studied at the TU Delft before graduating from the Amsterdam Conservatoire. He is a winner of the Prinses Christina Jazz Competition and performs with the Cas Jiskoot Quartet, Mo van der Does in Motet and the Marjorie Barnes Sextet, among others.

Tim Hennekes studied at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where he also teaches. He won the Prinses Christina Jazz Competition, the Leiden Jazz Award and the Expression of Art Award, and has performed with Anton Goudsmit, the Peter Beets Trio, the Alexander Beets Quartet and others.