Welcome to our new website! This is the site of “Jachthoorn- en Trompetterkorps Edelweiss” originating from Heerlen in the Netherlands. Our association was founded in 1960. The first instruments were just empty tins, used as drums. No one could have expected that these tins would be the base for a successful music corps. This corps is a successful ambassador for the city of Heerlen for over a few decades now as they compete in (inter)national marching and show competitions. East to West, North to South: everyone now knows the unique sound of Edelweiss! Not just in our own county, even people from far away. Our music corps is seen as a very welcome guest to all kinds of events: tattoos, parades, special flower parades and other events. For example: we shared a stage with the famous violinist André Rieu and his Strauss Orchestra in the Amsterdam Arena. During the National (military) Tattoo in Ahoy in Rotterdam, we were the only civilian corps that could enter the tattoo and so we played alongside all the military corps. At the World Music Contest (WMC) that takes place in Kerkrade, we won several gold medals.

What makes us unique?

To begin, there are not many “jachthoorn- en trompetterkorpsen”. You can translate this as: a corps for hunting horns and trumpets. The cast of our corps is based on natural instruments. Briefly this means that our wind instruments such as the trumpets, the clarions and the hunting horns don’t have any air valves. To play one of these natural instruments requires a special technique. As there are not many orchestras with these instruments, not many musical arrangements are available. Therefor our professional team of instructors composes and arranges almost all the music we play. And last but not least all the earlier mentioned wind instruments are supported by a swinging percussion section.

We have approximately 55 members whom rehearse twice a week. The youngest member is 10 years old and the musician with the most experience is now 68 years old. During these rehearsals they don’t just play music, a lot of hours are spend on the choreography of the marching exercises. One of Edelweiss’ characteristics is the high marching pace.

Our musicians share one passion: making music together! They are happy if they share their music  with an audience. We are proud of our inheritance. We come from the “Oostelijke Mijnstreek” a region in the southern province of the Netherlands. A place where in early days mining flourished and the hospital people had a lot of hard work to do. Therefor we are no strangers to hard work but relaxing has to be part of the plan.