Dutch born, now Finland-based guitarist Rody van Gemert is an avid chamber musician and has collaborated with many musicians and dancers. He has co-founded Ensemble Insomnia, the Helsinki Guitar Duo and the Superpluck Trio.
He graduated from the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and from the Cologne Music Academy with a Master of Music degree. He also studied at the Elisabeth Music Academy in Hiroshima and at the DocMus doctoral program at the Sibelius Academy, where he studied with Norio Sato, Jukka Savijoki and Zoran Dukic, among others.
Van Gemert has played in many European countries, the Faroe Islands, South Africa, Mexico and Japan. He has performed in a wide variety of venues, from kindergartens, women’s prisons and dementia homes to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Royal Hall in Stockholm and Tokyo Opera City Tower.
He has premiered some 140 compositions, both solo and chamber music, by composers such as Lotta Wennäkoski, Matthew Whittali, Robin de Raaff and Ton That Tiet and Graham Lynch.
Rody van Gemert plays Antonio de Torres ‘La Perla’ SE 30 guitar from 1882. The guitar was restored by Uwe Florath in 2022 with a grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.