Duitse interesse in #Reinbertbio

Op dinsdag 14 oktober trof ik de Duitse musicoloog Werner Klüppelholz in Amsterdam. Hij is een groot kenner van het werk van Mauricio Kagel, over wie hij verschillende boeken publiceerde. Ik leerde hem kennen tijdens mijn onderzoek voor de biografie Reinbert de Leeuw, mens of melodie, waarvoor hij belangrijke informatie verschafte. Klüppelholz had mijn boek gelezen en stelde er zeer inhoudelijke vragen over, voor een radioprogramma bij de Zuid-Duitse omroep SWR.

Thea Derks + Werner Klüppelholz, Amsterdam 14 oktober 2014

Klüppelholz had mijn boek noodgedwongen in het Nederlands gelezen, maar was er zo enthousiast over dat hij het heeft aanbevolen bij Pit Mischung van Wolke Verlag. Ook die reageert opgetogen en wil de biografie in het Duits vertalen en uitgeven. Geweldig nieuws, want ook in Duitsland bestaat veel belangstelling voor hedendaagse muziek, en Reinbert de Leeuw trad er geregeld op met het Schönberg Ensemble. Kijken of we tot een mooie overeenkomst kunnen komen.

Eerder die week werd ik gevraagd voor een lezing over mijn biografie bij de faculteit Geesteswetenschappen van Universiteit van Amsterdam. Deze zal plaatsvinden op 19 februari 2015 tussen 15.30 en 17.00 uur in het Universiteitstheater aan de Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16 in Amsterdam.

Donderdag 23 oktober vertelde ik over mijn biografie bij Boekhandel Broekhuis in Enschede voor een klein, maar select gezelschap. Het publiek luisterde aandachtig en was ook zeer persoonlijk betrokken, zodat  levendige discussies ontstonden over nut en noodzaak naar de vraag wat ‘mooi’ is en hoe je zo’n term definieert. Bijzonder was de aanwezigheid van de bariton Lodewijk Meeuwsen, die begin jaren zeventig mede aan de basis stond van het Schönberg Ensemble.

Thea Derks bij boekhandel Broekhuis, 21 oktober 2014

Meeuwsen verschafte waardevolle oor- en ooggetuigenverslagen. Zo vertelde hij  dat Reinbert de Leeuw dankzij het succes van zijn elpees met de vroege pianomuziek van Satie in de jaren zeventig in een Porsche naar het Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag kwam. – Die hij overigens al snel weer als ‘te burgerlijk’ van de hand deed. Na afloop kreeg ik een fles ‘Broekhuis boekenwijn’ mee. De verrukkelijke wijn is speciaal voor Broekhuis gebotteld, een bijzonder initiatief dat het lezen aanzienlijk kan veraangenamen.

Ondertussen gaat ook het gewone muziekjournalistieke leven door. Ik schreef een recensie over de wereldpremière van Theo Loevendie’s opera The Rise of Spinoza voor Bachtrack, en sprak voor muziekvan.nu met Seung-Ah Oh over haar nieuwe muziektheaterwerk Words & Beyond II: Nan Sul Hun. Morgen praat ik voorafgaand aan de wereldpremière door Slagwerk Den Haag in het Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ met Seungh-Ah Oh en Jinnie Seo, die tekent voor de kostuums en de fraaie installatie.

Gisteren publiceerde ik een dubbelportret van James MacMillan en Joey Roukens, naar aanleiding van de composities die zij schreven in opdracht van De Vrijdag van Vredenburg van de AVROTROS op Radio 4.

MacMillan componeerde zijn Percussion Concerto No. 2 voor de slagwerker Colin Currie en het Radio Filharmonisch Orkest. Het beleeft op 7 november zijn wereldpremière in de Grote Zaal van TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. Roukens componeerde Rising Phenix voor het Radio Filharmonisch Orkest en het Groot Omroepkoor, die het op vrijdag 28 november aldaar in première brengen. Ik ga voor de live uitzendingen op Radio 4 reportages maken van het repetitieproces.

#AVROTROS #Bachtrack #BoekhandelBroekhuis #ColinCurrie #Cultuurpers #DeVrijdagVanVredenburg #GeesteswetenschappenUvA #GrootOmroepkoor #JamesMacMillan #JinnieSeo #JoeyRoukens #LodewijkMeeuwsen #MauricioKagel #MuziekgebouwAanTIJ #MuziekvanNu #PercussionConcertoNo2 #radio4 #RadioFilharmoinischOrkest #ReinbertDeLeeuwMensOfMelodie #RisingPhenix #SeungAhOh #SlagwerkDenHaag #TheRiseOfSpinoza #TheaDerks #TheoLoevendie #TivoliVredenburg #WernerKlüppelholz #WordsBeyondIINanSulHun

Dobrinka Tabakova composes double concerto for pianists Lucas & Arthur Jussen: ‘It brims with energy’

The Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova (1980) writes music that is highly lyrical and communicative. On Thursday 16 November a new double concerto will be premièred in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ: Together Remember to Dance. She composed it at the request of Amsterdam Sinfonietta, for this occasion supplemented with Slagwerk Den Haag. Soloists are the famed pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen.

What characterizes you as a composer?

Improvising was perhaps my first passion, as soon as I started piano lessons when I was around 7 years old. This quality of free expression, while aiming to communicate is an important part of my language. I am happy when people say they feel moved by the music, but I am also intrigued by the question how sound becomes structure in time.

How did your new composition come about?

Amsterdam Sinfonietta premiered my Concerto for Cello & Strings at the Amsterdam Cello Biennale in 2008. We worked wonderfully together, and then they came up with the idea of this double concerto. I am excited to work with Lucas and Arthur Jussen for the first time, and Slagwerk Den Haag. The new concerto for 2 pianos, percussion and strings is called Together Remember to Dance. The title is made up of the names of each movement; I was inspired to write a work which would be uplifting and with a buzzing energy.

How have you shaped this double concerto?

I remember immediately having an idea of its structure: three movements, creating a classical symmetry of ‘fast-slow-fast’. It’s important for me to imagine how the time will flow for the duration of the new piece. Then I start sketching and improvising to find the themes and timbres of each movement. Out of all ‘classical’ forms, the concerto is the one I feel closest to, for the early baroque relationship between soloist(s) and ensemble appeals to me: a dialogue rather than a declaration with background.

In Together Remember to Dance the pianos, percussion and strings all have their own roles and layers; our attention continuously shifts from one to the other. This was the key concept of the first movement, ‘Together’. It sets off with a clash between arpeggio’s in the piano’s and clusters in the strings.

The traditionally slow middle movement, ‘Remember’ is a whirling waltz in which I create a sense of spiralling: themes and gestures recur, but each time with a new twist. As if you discover something new while reliving certain memories. The final movement, ‘Dance’, has a constant pulse, but also catches us unexpectedly.

Your piece is on the programme with Bartók’s classic Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Has this inspired you while composing?

Works like Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, or Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring are among the icons of 20th century music and it is impossible as a composer not to have absorbed and admire them. However, while writing I am so involved with what I am trying to express that it would be difficult to concentrate fully if the thought of another work were hovering in the background.

That Bartók researched music from my home country Bulgaria and uses its rhythms in his final movement is close to my heart. The last movement of my concerto is also a fast paced, kaleidoscopic dance, though the effect is different; it’s like a perpetuum mobile. Writing for this combination of instruments will always carry with it a certain link with Bartók, but that goes for any structure or work which bears resemblance to a past form. It is our responsibility as composers and creators  to be aware of the past but also to reflect the present and make steps forward.

You were born in Bulgaria, but moved to Britain, where you studied music. Why?

My parents and I moved to London in 1991; they’re medical physicists and my father was offered a position at King’s College. By that stage I was playing the piano and improvising, but it wasn’t until we came to London that I auditioned for a place at the Royal Academy of Music and started studying composition formally. My parents sensed that music would be important in my life, maybe more as a performer, but they were always encouraging and supported my interest in composition.

You studied with Simon Bainbridge, Diana Burrell and George Benjamin. Who was the most influential?

The most important thing is that each of my teachers has their own compositional voice, and I never felt pressed to create pieces which match their styles. For years I studied with different tutors at the same time, so I experienced all of these different techniques of teaching and composing. My first degree was at a conservatoire, which is a very practical environment. At least compared with the more academic university, where I received my PhD.

At the conservatoire, being around performers all the time created a very fertile environment for composition. We could put on our own concerts, which meant finding the musicians who would perform, making rehearsal schedules, conducting… It took composition away from the desk and the lesson and into the concert hall. I treasure the conversations and discussions with each of my teachers, but it was the rehearsals with musicians where you see all of these techniques coming to life.

You also took master classes with Louis Andriessen. Could you say something about this experience?

Louis Andriessen was in London for concerts in the early 2000s. One of the great things about studying in a conservatoire next to the Barbican Centre is that visiting composers would often come over to give presentations and masterclasses to students. I remember submitting a portfolio and having the chance to show some of my works to Andriessen, including some sketches for a chamber opera. We spoke about collaborating with different artists, experimentation, about challenging audiences and choosing different venues. I have a great respect for him and hope he’ll come to the première of Together Remember to Dance.

On Wednesday 16 November there will be a public rehearsal of Together Remember to Dance in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. Afterwards I’ll speak with Tabakova, the brothers Jussen and Candida Thompson, artistic leader of Amsterdam Sinfonietta.

During the public rehearsal some new insights popped up, I spoke with Tabakova afterwards. 

https://youtu.be/5ykKUmIr5z8

#AmsterdamSinfonietta #DobrinkaTabakova #LucasArthurJussen #SlagwerkDenHaag #TogetherRememberToDance

Kate Moore wins Matthijs Vermeulenprijs – as first woman composer ever

Kate Moore, ©Marco Giugliarelli for the Civitella Ranieri Foundation

On Saturday 2 December the Australian-Dutch composer Kate Moore (1979) will receive the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize for her composition The Dam. The prize was established in 1972 and consists of € 20,000, made available by the Performing Arts Fund. It is named after the Dutch composer and music critic Matthijs Vermeulen (1888-1967).

Until now it has invariably gone to men, some of them even getting it twice. Moore will receive the prize coming Saturday as the first woman ever, during Festival Dag in the Branding in The Hague. After the ceremony in the Korzo Theatre, her piece will be performed by ensemble Herz.

Kate Moore combines repetitive patterns with an opulent sound world. This summer she surprised friend and foe with her oratorio Sacred Environment during the Holland Festival Proms in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. The large-scale work for orchestra, choir, soloists and live video was inspired by the sacred grounds of Australia’s first people.

The at times overwhelming masses of sound evoked memories of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. In general Moore’s music is more restrained; it often has a dreamy, seductive atmosphere. She regularly combines instruments with artistic sound objects, which form a subtle but important part of the composition. She also built her own ceramic percussion instruments.

Moore composed The Dam in 2015 for the Canberra International Music Festival, Australia. It was originally set for soprano and chamber orchestra, including a didgeridoo and an electric baritone guitar. Two years later, the British ensemble Icebreaker asked her to make an instrumental version, in which the didgeridoo was replaced by pan flutes; this version was awarded the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize. For the Herz Ensemble Moore made yet another arrangement, in which both didgeridoo and singer are re-instated.

For The Dam, Kate Moore found inspiration in nature: ‘It is based on the rhythms of the sounds made by cicadas, crickets, frogs, birds, flies, spiders and other creatures that inhabit a waterhole in the bush’, she said. ‘Far away from human intervention, their evening song becomes a great choir joyously singing out into the vast universe. It is possible from far away to hear where the waterhole is without being able to see it, and it is also possible to hear the shape of the landscape around it as many tiny creatures create a sonic pointillist landscape. I am attracted to the almost but not quite polyrhythmic tapestry of sound they create.’

The jury calls The Dam ‘both an exciting, immersive composition and a rich sounding of our times. The ultra-soft, mysterious motoric movement with which the work opens, convincingly develops into a grand musical gesture.’ Furthermore, the report lauds the ‘organically woven evocative interplay of lines’. The jury also praises Moore for having the guts ‘to combine an almost monomaniac musical movement with an extremely precise sound performance.’ It concludes: ‘Moore does not want to nuance or soften in her music, but rather touches the listener directly without compromise.’

That afternoon also the Willem Pijper Prize will be awarded, to Moore’s Mexican colleague Hugo Morales Murguía (1979) for his composition Equid (2014). This will be performed by Slagwerk in the Nieuwe Kerk, The Hague. According to the jury report, the piece has a ‘signal function’, because it ‘inspires to listen in a different way to the sounds of everyday life’. The composition prize is curated by the Johan Wagenaar Foundation for the Municipality of The Hague.

Normally Dag in de Branding only lasts one (Satur)day. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Johan Wagenaar Foundation however, an extra concert was added the day after. On Sunday 3 December, the piano duo X88 will give a recital in Korzo featuring four world premieres. The pianists Vicky Chow and Saskia Lankhoorn will perform, among others, Preservation (Pearl Morpho) by Pete Harden and Naked, I by Vanessa Lann.

Here’s a live performance of The Dam by the Herz Ensemble. 

#DagInDeBranding #HugoMoralesMurguía #KateMoore #MatthijsVermeulenprijs #SlagwerkDenHaag #TheDam #WillemPijperPrijs

Musical journey down the Nile in ‘Afrique’ by Richard Rijnvos

Born in Tilburg, the Netherlands, in 1964, Richard Rijnvos avoids the beaten tracks; his work cannot be pigeonholed. Indeed, he does not regard ‘style’ as a starting point, but as the unsuspected outcome of the creative process. On Saturday 13 November, the Residentie Orchestra and Slagwerk Den Haag present the world premiere of Afrique, the fourth part of his seven-movement orchestral cycle Grand Atlas. The concert forms part of Festival Dag in de Branding, and is conducted by Antony Hermus.

Early on in his career Rijnvos developed a preference for composing multi-movement compositions. Between 1995 and 2000, for instance, he wrote the eighty-minute cycle Block-Beuys. It was inspired by the pavilion of the same name, which is dedicated to this German artist in the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt. In 2001, Rijnvos started the still expanding cycle La Serenissima about the city of Venice and in 2008 he completed his six-part orchestral cycle Uptown|Downtown, dedicated to the city of New York.

SOUNDING WORLD ATLAS

The seed for his ambitious cycle Grand Atlas was sown in 2004, when he completed the final movement of La Serenissima. This semi-theatrical composition for voice, tuba and ensemble is called mappamondo and was inspired by the fifteenth-century Venetian monk Fra Mauro. He belonged to the hermit order of the Camaldolese, a branch of the Benedictines, and lived in a monastery on the Isola di San Michele in the Venetian lagoon.

‘Fra Mauro was considered the most important cartographer of his time’, says Rijnvos. ‘He spent most of his life working on an impressive world map. This is how I came up with the idea of creating my own, musical version. A kind of sounding atlas, in which each of the seven continents is represented in an orchestral composition. Thus I creep into Fra Mauro’s mind.’ In each movement he also incorporates elements from the musical culture of the continent in question.

Richard Rijnvos: ‘Grand Atlas is a sounding atlas, in which each of the seven continents is represented in an orchestral composition.’

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Three of the seven movements have already been premiered: Antarctique (2012); Asie (2015) and Amérique du Nord (2016). Of the remaining four, Amérique du Sud (2019) and Europe (2020) have been completed but not yet performed, partly because the planned concerts were postponed due to the corona-pandemic. On Saturday 13 November, the Residentie Orchestra and Slagwerk Den Haag will perform the world premiere of Afrique in the newly opened cultural centre Amare on the Spuiplein in The Hague. 

Afrique was commissioned by the Residentie Orchestra and Slagwerk Den Haag. Prior to the premiere, I will give the first lecture of my three-part course on modern music in Amare. I will zoom in on the development of rhythm from roughly 1900 onwards, and the related rise of percussion ensembles. In the last fifteen minutes I will interview Richard Rijnvos about his new piece.

TRAVELLING DOWN THE NILE

On his website Rijnvos writes about Afrique: ‘Our clockwise journey begins in North Africa, more precisely, the heart of Egypt. On our way to the historic monuments, temples and tombs near Karnak and Luxor, we hear snatches of native music coming from afar. Approaching the village of El-Tod, we clearly distinguish the characteristic sound of the mizmar, an extremely loud double-reed woodwind instrument.’

‘It’s a sort of Arabic oboe, which, due to its trumpet-like bell, easily manages the kind of volume we normally expect from brass. Two players improvise in a quasi-unison manner, whilst a third persists in sustaining what seems to be a never-ending, piercing, yet seducing drone. Traditional drums, such as darbuka, duff and duhulla provide a stirring accompaniment.’

‘We descend by boat down the Nile, all the way to Lake Victoria in Uganda, East Africa. The hospitable locals of Nakibembe, a small village in Busoga, treat us to an evening of their indigenous music. The central instrument is the embaire, a xylophone about 2.5 metres long, played by six people, seated three on each side. It has gigantic keys made from ensambiya wood, and is placed on a huge hole in the ground for resonance purposes. The music is lively and cheerful, with untrained voices singing along every now and then.’

FLUTE PLAYING, DANCING & SINGING

‘Our travels continue via the east coast, in the direction of Southern Africa, to Botswana, where we meet the Balete people. In these regions, the focus is not so much on percussion. Instead, the locals play reed flutes, so-called ditlhaka, and they tend to gather in ensembles that incorporate dozens of participants, performing traditional dances, which can last for hours. The common practice is for men to play a variety of different-sized flutes, while dancing counter-clockwise in a circle, surrounded by women and young girls clapping.’

‘Travelling back north via the west coast, to Central Africa, we cross the rainforest of Cameroon, home of the Baka people. Their music is mainly vocal, displaying a striking polyphonic sophistication. Based on repetitive melodic fragments, with little variation, but lots of improvisation, they dance, sing and yodel as part of healing rituals, initiation rituals, funerals, but also for sheer entertainment.’

‘Our voyage ends in Senegal, West Africa, where the Wolof people preserve the Sabar drumming tradition. Among its most renowned pioneers was maestro Doudou N’Diaye Rose (1930-2015), and it is in his memory we finish with an orchestral remix of his legendary and utterly exhilarating “Rose Rhythm”.’

I hope to see you at the concert – and of course you are welcome to attend my lecture!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-lk_vzYIHg

#FestivalDagInDeBranding #GrandAtlas #ResidentieOrkest #RichardRijnvos #SlagwerkDenHaag

‘De mogelijkheden voor de jonge musici nu zijn vele malen meer uitgekleed dan ze destijds waren’

Met Battles & Silences brengt HIIIT! (v/h Slagwerk Den Haag) een wel heel bijzondere geluidservaring. Tijdens November Music 2025 is in de Sint-Jan in Den Bosch een geluidslandschap mee te maken, waarin een hoofdrol is weggelegd voor een klok, gegoten van kogelhulzen uit Oekraïne. “Opdat er ooit geen kogels meer zijn, omdat we ze allemaal tot klok hebben omgevormd.” Voor Fedor Teunisse is […]

#Hiit #SlagwerkDenHaag

https://cultureelpersbureau.nl/2025/10/de-mogelijkheden-voor-de-jonge-musici-nu-zijn-vele-malen-meer-uitgekleed-dan-ze-destijds-waren/

I am happy and proud that my music and Philip Glass arrangements for Slagwerk Den Haag are being released today on Glass’s label Orange Mountain Music. First on all streaming platforms, and in the beginning of next year as a physical CD. The gorgeous cover art is by Darien Britto.

Listen here: https://smarturl.it/xuw4lp

#philipglass #anthonyfiumara #composer #slagwerkdenhaag #sdh #minimalmusic #musician #art #artist #newmusic #newmusic