Cellist Iris van Eck was born in the Netherlands to an artist painter (father) and a piano teacher (mother). She studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Jean Decroos (principal cellist in the Concertgebouw orchestra) & Rene van Ast before moving to the United States where she studied with madame Raya Garbousova.
She is a winner of the Edith Stein Concours in the Netherlands (on flute) and the Concerto Competition at Northern Illinois University (on cello). She also participated in master classes with Paul and Maude Tortellier at the Hochschule in Essen and in Luzern; at the Piattigorsky Seminar in Los Angeles, she studied with William Pleeth, Lyn Harrell, Misha Maiski and Jeffrey Solow and at the Cleveland Chamber music Seminar with Joseph Gingold and the Guarneri Quartet.
Iris van Eck is principal cellist for the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra and the Florida Classical Orchestra. She has appeared as soloist with various orchestras in the United States & in Europe and is frequently heard on the chamber music circuit in South Florida and abroad. In She plays a beautiful French cello made by Bernardel Pere in 1831.
"Works for cello and piano by women composers" was recorded in September 2005 in Delft, the Netherlands, together with Dutch pianist Arielle Vernède. It was released by Eroica Classical Recordings (www.eroica.com) in December 2006 A recording of Faure’s complete works for cello and piano together with pianist Kemal Gekic is in the editing stages.Ms van Eck is the founder of the successful "Chameleon Chamber music series at the Leiser Opera center" in Fort Lauderdale.