Rudolf Koelman (born 1959 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch violinist and is professor for violin at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) in Switzerland.
Koelman studied the violin with Jan Bor and Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam. From the age of 18, he studied with Jascha Heifetz on a full scholarship at the University of Southern California School of Music, now known as the USC Thornton School of Music, in Los Angeles. From 1996 until 1999 he was first concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. 2000-2005 he was Professor for violin and chamber music at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany. Currently (since 1987) he is Professor for violin and chamber music at the "Zürcher Hochschule der Künste" (ZHdK) known as Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland where he also leads the ZHdK Strings chamber orchestra. He is frequently invited as a jury member at international violin competitions and gives masterclasses all around Europe, Asia and Australia.
Koelman plays a violin made by Giovanni Francesco Pressenda in 1829 and the "Woolhouse" Stradivarius made in 1720.
Since 1981 Rudolf Koelman has performed frequently worldwide as a soloist with a large number of renowned orchestras including Bruckner Orchester Linz, WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, Korean Broadcasting System Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a soloist, concertmaster or chamber musician he shared the concert stage with musicians such as: Atar Arad, Joshua Bell, Douglas Boyd, Ronald Brautigam, Rudolf Buchbinder, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Colin Davis, Richard Dufallo, Thomas Demenga, Youri Egorov, Chiara Enderle, Dmitri Ferschtman, Liza Ferschtman, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Herreweghe, Godfried Hoogeveen, Heinz Holliger, Maris Janssons, Alexander Kerr, Ulrich Koella, Ton Koopman, Hartmut Lindemann, Radu Lupu, Nikita Magaloff, Orfeo Mandozzi, Frederic Meinders, Shlomo Mintz, Viktoria Mullova, Roger Norrington, Antoine Oomen, György Pauk, Thomas Riebl, Nathaniel Rosen, Paul Rosenthal, Kurt Sanderling, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Markus Stocker, Duncan McTier, Jan Willem de Vriend, Raphael Wallfisch, Thomas Zehetmair, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Jaap van Zweden, Conrad Zwicky and many others.
Rudolf Koelman has made numerous TV-, radio- and CD recordings among them a live recording of all 24 Paganini Capricci.
