Already at an early age Francien van Tuinen was into jazz music, singing standards by Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. She studied voice at the Groningen Conservatory, where she graduated in 1998. Since winning the Nationaal Vocalisten Jazz Concours in 1997, the singer's career as a vocalist took off. Together with two of the competition's finalists, she did a tour of theaters and released two albums. She has performed at North Sea Jazz twice already. Last year Van Tuinen started another theater tour, this time with the project Gershwin on My Mind, in collaboration with pianist/arranger Henk Meutgeert. This spring she made it to the finals of the Andersen Jazz Award in the Concertgebouw. Her debut CD Tuindance and its follow-up Despina's Eye were recently re-released by Culture Records. Van Tuinen will perform with pianist Joost Zwart, bass player Ruud Vley, tenor sax player Tom Beek and drummer Sebastiaan Demydizuk.
