Marijke Zijlstra (1986) received her first bassoon lessons at the age of 10. She started her bassoon study at the Conservatory of Groningen but changed after two years to the Royal Conservatory of The Hague where she studied with Johan Steinmann and Remko Edelaar. She graduated with the master of music degree in 2011.

Marijke played as a substitute with many well-known orchestras, including the Residentie Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the Limburg Symphony Orchstra, the Dutch Wind Ensemble and the

Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble.

In addition, she had master classes and lessons with Gustavo Núñez, Ole Kristian Dahl, Sergio Azzolini, Ronald Karten and Dorian Cooke.