Architecture and composition

Architects Peter Masselink and Vincenth Schreurs have made a design for a new music school in Doetinchem. It was selected by both the jury and the people of Doetinchem as the winning design. My piece for violin and piano 'refraction' and the reflection upon it by Jasmijn Burger, winner of the Herman Krebbersprijs (see earlier news item) inspired them and it goes without saying that I am very proud of this. Here's the official text by the architects (in Dutch):

Het plan ”Refraction” is uitgegaan van bestaande kwaliteiten en het versterken van onbenutte verborgen kwaliteiten van het gebouw. Het bestaande gebouw heeft in zijn architectuur een hoge kwaliteit. Een expressieve geleding en een sterk ritme van volumes en prachtige details. Maar wat ook opvalt is de geslotenheid van het gebouw. Muziek moet blijkbaar binnen blijven, de omgeving juist buiten. Met ons gebouw willen we daar een reactie op geven.

“Refraction” is een muziekstuk van de Nederlandse componist Janco Verduin, geschreven voor viool en piano. Het betekent straalbreking, dat we kennen als we een drinkrietje in een glas water steken. Het rietje lijkt te vervormen, is niet meer wat het lijkt. Ons ontwerp is geïnspireerd op het muziekstuk en op het natuurkundige verschijnsel van straalbreking.

Zoals het muziekstuk wordt gespeeld door twee instrumenten bestaat het paviljoenachtige gebouw uit twee materialen. Een helder wit betonnen blok dat ritmiek krijgt door de plaatverdeling van de bekisting. Heel subtiel en heel constant. Daaronder de verchroomde stalen buizen, die soms te dun lijken en daardoor lijken te spelen met de zwaartekracht. Die soms kolom zijn en dan weer garderobe, entreedeur of vlaggenmast en volgens een geheel eigen melodie hun weg lijken te gaan in het gebouw, niets is meer wat het lijkt. Het vele glas geeft openheid in het gebouw. Muziek mag gezien worden, maar ook de omgeving. Het blok sluit de plek niet af, maar laat de omgeving in het gebouw toe, soms heel letterlijk zoals in de patio.

Het biedt mogelijkheden voor verschillend gebruik van de verschillende ruimtes. Gesloten, middels kleurige akoestische gordijnen, heeft het een zekere geborgenheid. Geopend biedt het een mogelijkheid de muziek wereldkundig te maken en buitenconcerten te geven.

Iordens Viooldagen update

Here's a little update on the Iordens Viooldagen 2010. Jasmijn Burger, winner of the Herman Krebbersprijs (the best interpretation of the mandatory work (which for the IIa category was my piece)) wrote something about Refraction.

"Refraction", wat betekent dat eigenlijk, mijn juf heeft het me uitgelegd, "maar wel apart", dacht ik, straalbreking....

De woorden snel, ritmisch, hoekig kwamen in me op. Ik begon aan dit stuk en er kwamen allemaal gedachtes langs. "Kan ik het wel spelen, doe ik het wel goed, is dit wel wat de componist wil". Ik hoop namelijk goed uitgedrukt te hebben wat de componist met dit stuk wil. Maar de grootste vraag was voor mij: "Pas ik wel bij dit stuk?".

Maar na hard studeren begon ik de muziek te begrijpen. Ik lette er niet meer op of ik de juiste noten speelde, ik lette er niet meer op of het ritme wel klopte. Nee, ik maakte muziek! Ik had de vrijheid om muziek te maken. Ik leefde me uit én ik had plezier en ik denk, dat dat één van de doelen was van de componist. Plezier hebben en lol maken met dit stuk. Hier heb ik heel veel van geleerd. Ik vond het geweldig eindelijk op het podium, in een grote zaal Refraction te kunnen spelen tijdens de Iordens Viooldagen voor veel publiek. Tijdens de finale mocht het nog een keer en ik ben erg blij dat ik er de Herman Krebbersprijs mee heb gewonnen, ik vind het een hele eer.

Groetjes, Jasmijn Burger (12)

Listen to Jasmijn and Thom Janssen (on piano) playing refraction.

nieuwBlauw

On Tuesday April 6th Marcel Worms will premiere my piece for piano solo, nieuwBlauw, in theater Kikker in Utrecht. It was written on request by Marcel for the latest edition of his blues project. Most of the eighteen pieces on the program are premieres, including works by Roderik de Man, Joey Roukens and Claudia Rumondor.

For this project Marcel asks the composers to write a new work for piano solo that is somehow related to the blues. I must say, at first I had some difficulty to find the right angle to approach the concept: so much music has already been written in this style, crossovers with all sorts of styles have already been made, chord progressions and licks have been turned inside out and upside down. So I went looking for the earliest blues recordings I could find and then I found the work Alan Lomax had done. His field recordings of hollers and prison songs, the so called chaing-gang songs, immediately caught my attention. Funny enough, the almost synchronous hits of axes and hammers influenced my piece as much as the sung parts in between them.

Hammer Smashed Phase

Modelo62 have begun rehearsing for the concerts next week. On March 13 they will premiere Hammer Smashed Phase, the piece I wrote for them, at the Dag in de Branding in Korzo5Hoog and the day after in De Witte Dame in Eindhoven, organized by AxesJazzpower.

When starting to write the piece, the concept was quite different from what it turned out to be (which is often the case in my case). One thing led to another and the final version was rather perpendicular from my initial intentions. Hammer Smashed Phase is quite a polarized piece. It is either soft or loud, fuzzy or clear, empty or dense. But as the piece develops the characteristics of the segments get cross-bred, so in a way you can say it is almost a sonata. For the connoisseurs, there's a quote from Cannibal Corpse. See if you can find it.

Iordens Viooldagen 2010

The Iordens Viooldagen 2010 have finished and I must say, I was very impressed by the level of both craftmanship and musicianship of all these youngsters. I was also very happy to hear that my piece worked in the way I intended to. If it had been too easy, everybody could have played it very well, if it had been too difficult, no one could have. As it turned out to be, some played the notes, some played more than the notes and turned it into beautiful music.

So a big thanks to Jasmijn, Hawijch, Tina, Alesandra and all the others who did not fear new notes, cherished them as if they were their own and gave them back to us, better than I've written them.

On time dilation and synchronicity

Last Thursday was the premiere of my piece for FC Jongbloed, On time dilation and synchronicity. Arnold Marinissen conducted and the musicians played marvelously, I was very happy with the sounding result. For those who missed it, it will be played again on Wednesday 11th in 's-Hertogenbosch, Friday 13th in Hamburg and December 14th in Rotterdam.

The piece is about changing, irregular densities, a slowing down of time perception and about the need to synchronize near-by musical events. It turned out to be one of the most difficult pieces I've written, so many thanks to FC Jongbloed for putting so much effort in it.

Temps Brisé

Yesterday the premiere took place of my piece for orchestra Temps Brisé, a concerto for orchestra. I was very satisfied with both the piece and the performance. As it turned out, so did the audience and the jury, for Temps Brisé won two prizes: both the audience prize and the encouraging prize. The Volkskrant desribed my piece as ...pleasantly different but sharply dosed... (...aangenaam afwijkend maar scherp gedoseerd...).

The jury praised the virtuosity, the orchestration and the diversity of the piece. They said it was clear I love the orchestra and know how to write for it. So a big thanks to all the people who voted for my piece and an even bigger thanks to the wonderful musicians of Holland Symfonia and the conductor, Etienne Siebens.

Premieres & newsletters

With rehearsals of my chamber opera Ei in full progress, there is one week to go until the premiere, which will be held in Apeldoorn, in the Orpheus theatre. The second performance will be in Wolfheeze and the third in Amsterdam at the Beurs van Berlage, during the Uitmarkt. A few weeks later my piece for orchestra Temps Brisé will have it's world premiere in the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, as part of the Gaudeamus International Musicweek 2009. Holland Symfonia will perform my piece and four other pieces by upcoming composers.

I also added a contact form to the contact page, so if you would like to be kept informed of the latest news and upcoming concerts, please leave your name and email address.

Ei

Rehearsals for my chamber opera Ei have started. Ei is a story about a woman in a waiting room with an egg on her lap. She talks to the others who are waiting and to the ones she is imagining. Past and present become mixed up as we learn more about her and her former lovers.

Fast Opera Productions (FOP) asked me to write this opera, Simone de Jong has written the libretto. I am happy to work with them and with Carina Vinke who will sing Ei.

Coming month it will be performed together with Graham Flett's opera Inflatable Trust and Diego Soifer's Ouverture. Performances will be in Apeldoorn, Wolfheze (being part of Muziekzomer Gelderland 2009) and in Amsterdam during the Uitmarkt (check the agenda for more details).

Zenith Festival

My entry for the Zenith Festival Composers Competition was awarded the first prize!

It is a piece for piano quintet and it is titled "am Rande". The objective of the competition was to make a cross-over between pop, rock or jazz and contemporary music. So I took the song "On the edge" which I have written some years ago for a heavy metal band I played in and arranged it. In the first half the piano takes on the role of the drums and the strings of the guitars, but around the break is turns more avant-gardish.

The piece will be played at the final day of the festival, which is may 16th.

Iordens Viooldagen 2010

I was asked to write a new piece for the Iordens Viooldagen 2010. It will take place at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague sometime in january 2010.

I had the choice between a violin solo, a violin duo and a piece for violin and piano and I think it will be the latter one. The piece is meant for the II A Category, so that means children at the age of 10-12 years. I am looking forward to writing it and off course hearing it about thirty times!

World premiere of "Syzygy"

On november 22nd Clarinet ensemble Lignum played my piece Ssyzygy which I wrote for them. It was performed at the Evangelische Lutherse Kerk in Leiden and the typical church acoustics worked great for the music. It was a mixed audience (not only modern music lovers) so for some people it was a bit of an unexpected thing, but there were lots of positive reactions.

Although I was satisfied with the performance, I was not 100% happy with the form. So afterwards (actually, just before the premiere) I decided to take out the last section and rewrite the middle part. Off course I didn't want to change it last minute so this was the (probably) only performance of this version. I took some time to get it right and hopefully they will play the revised Syzygy somewhere in 2009.

"Sfumato"

On september 4 the Cantus Ansambl played my piece Sfumato again, this thime at the BIM-huis during the International Gaudeamus Music Week 2008.

Sfumato was written especially for the Cantus Ensemble. The title is the Italian term (which means "smoky") for a painting technique which overlays translucent layers of colour to create fuzzy perceptions of delicate differences in light and shadow. In particular, it refers to the blending of colours or tones so subtly that there is no perceptible transition. By working with subtle layers of timbres, rhythm and harmonies I came to a sounding equivalent. When I started my piece I had something else in mind but as often with my music the notes went looking for their own identity and I played the role as a biographer, giving form to their story. Clear sounds and chords encapsulate passages that are fuzzy and ambiguous. Or do they pierce it?

"Sfumato"

On august 22nd I will depart for Croatia to rehearse with the Cantus Ansambl. They will play my piece Sfumato which I wrote for the ocasion. They will perform it on saturday august 30th at the International Cultural Centre of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan, thursday september 4th in the Bimhuis in Amsterdam as part of the International Gaudeamus Music Week 2008 and sunday september 21st at the Vatroslav Lisinski Small Hall in Zagreb.

Sfumato was written especially for the Cantus Ensemble. The title is the Italian term (which means "smoky") for a painting technique which overlays translucent layers of colour to create fuzzy perceptions of delicate differences in light and shadow. In particular, it refers to the blending of colours or tones so subtly that there is no perceptible transition. By working with subtle layers of timbres, rhythm and harmonies I came to a sounding equivalent. When I started my piece I had something else in mind but as often with my music the notes went looking for their own identity and I played the role as a biographer, giving form to their story. Clear sounds and chords encapsulate passages that are fuzzy and ambiguous. Or do they pierce it?

"Branding"

On september 11th 2007 my piece for woodwind ensemble (three flutes, alto flute, oboe (doubling english horn), two clarinets, two bass clarinets, two bassoons and double bassoon) Branding had its world premiere at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen. It was a commission by the 'Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat' (Ministry for Traffic and Water affairs) and opened a day where the government presented their new vision on watermanagement for the country. The ensemble was conducted by Ezequiel Menalled.

In the piece I explored typical waterlike movements like waves and streams. 'Branding' is the dutch word for the shoreline where the waves hit the land. Since the sea can be observed as both an entity in constant motion as well as a static whole I tried to represent this in my piece. Because the waves keep on coming, regardless of the human world I tried to create a more or less timeless atmosphere.

Several months after the premiere I decided to rewrite it to strengthen both the form and the content.

I finished my bachelor!

Today I had my final exam for my bachelor and I made it. The commitee (Louis Andriessen, Gilius van Bergeijk, Martijn Padding, Cornelis de Bondt, Diederik Haakma Wagenaar, special guest Guus Janssen and Frans de Ruiter) were content with the progress I've made during the last four years. The grade they gave me is an 8,5 which is enough to start my Master (2nd phase) coming september, also at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

"to evoke Certain Things by means of ritualistic behaviour and circumstances"

On april 22nd 2007 my piece for five trumpets and four percussion players to evoke Certain Things by means of ritualistic behaviour and circumstances was played again on the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. It opened the Springfestival, the annual new music festival with pieces from students from the composition department. The ensemble was conducted by Richard Fitzhugh, just like last time in september.

World premiere of "Punching Judy"

On april 3rd 2007 part of the ASKO Ensemble played Punching Judy at Paradiso, Amsterdam. The work was part of the 7x7 project were students from the conservatories of The Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam were asked to write a piece of about 7 minutes. The instrumentation is oboe, (double)bassoon, trumpet, piano, percussion, drumkit, cello and double bass. It was a great opportunity to write for these crafted musicians and I aimed at both a fun-to-play factor for the musicians as well as an interesting piece for the audience. The ensemble was conducted by Bas Wiegers with great skill.

World premiere of "Koraal"

On december 20th 2006 the Reflex Quartet played at Paradiso, Amsterdam a piece involving both composed as improvised music with electronics, which I've written especially for them. The quartet was joined by David Benque who took care of the visual part of the show. This performance was part of "Wilde Bloesem: nacht van de nieuwe oogst", a sort of competition which we won with our plan to make a combination of sound and vision.

In Dutch "Koraal" has a double meaning: both the coral reef and the polyphonic choral. In this installation, it appears in various forms: pre-recorded material, a live string quartet playing both composed and improvised music, a projection of both pre-filmed material and an on-stage aquarium.

The overall result is an inter-reliant system, where sound and image react to and affect one another, where the electronic and the recorded meet the acoustic and the live, where individual voices and images link and cooperate as well as clash and struggle, where chorals and corals become one eco-system of sound and vision.

World premiere of "to evoke Certain Things by means of ritualistic behaviour and circumstances"

On september 4th 2006 my piece for five trumpets and four percussion players to evoke Certain Things by means of ritualistic behaviour and circumstances was played at the opening of the schoolyear at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. This piece was a commision from the school and I was proud to be asked. It is a spatial piece with one percussion player on the mainstage, one in the back behind the audience, one on the left and one on the right and five trumpetplayers, positioned in a semi-circle around the audience. The ensemble was conducted by Richard Fitzhugh. The piece was well received and I was happy with the performance.

World premiere of "strngqrtt"

On may 5th and 6th 2006 my piece for string quartet strngqrtt was played at the Korzo Theatre, The Hague. This piece was part of the project hemelbestormers, organized by Korzo. In this project three composers (besides me Ivana Kis and Zbigniew Wolny) were teamed up with three students from the Royal Art Academy.

In pairs we researched Gestalt theory, a field in psychology where relations between objects are formed in the brain. I formed a pair with Melissa Cruz. Together we made a concept and a structure for both our pieces.

The idea is that twentyfive short fragments are played by the string quartet - the fragments themselves sometimes are related, sometimes are not - while on a curtain of teabags (we collected really thousands of teabags) a video was projected which had a non-narrative, fragmented structure. Since the music and the video are not synced the audience will make connections between image and sound that sometimes are created on purpose but sometimes are purely coincidental. The human brain works in such a way that whatever information is given we try to connect the dots, even if the dots are not related at all.

"Portret" played again

On april 1st and 2nd 2006 my piece for ensemble Portret was played again at Scheltema, Leiden. I took the opportunity to change some of the music because after last time I felt the sounding result did not match my expectations. This time the ensemble was conducted by Bas Wiegers.

World premiere of "Points of departure"

On february 20th 2006 my piece for two violins Points of departure was played at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam. The piece is in five parts and part one and four were written by Orlando di Lasso. I took these two Biccinia as a starting point to make three new parts that somehow related to them. It was (amazingly) played by Ian van den Berk and Rosa Arnold.

World premiere of "Portret"

On february 11th and 12th 2006 my piece for ensemble Portret was played at Scheltema, Leiden. The piece was written for the occasion of Rembrandt's 400th birthyear. The ensemble was conducted by Taco Kooijstra.

With this piece I wanted to make a musical portrait of Rembrandt. But how do you translate fine arts to music? Because a direct, one to one translation is not possible I tried to transform several of Rembrandts painting techniques to composition techniques. At first the music transforms from clear lines towards more free gestures. And by shifting focus between the layers I tried to suggest a kind of depth, as Rembrandt tried to do with his paintings. A painting doesn't just say something about the object that is painted, but also about painting itself, and in the end the music just follows its own logic, independent of what is portrayed. So maybe, in the end, it might have become not a portrait of a painter, but a selfportrait.

upcoming concerts

Sep 12, 2010, 12:30, BAM zaal Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam - Hyperfugue for 31 tone organ Ere Lievonen

Nov 21, 2010, Bethaniënklooster, Amsterdam - nieuwBlauw for piano solo Marcel Worms

Dec 12, 2010, Witte Dame, Eindhoven - Hammer Smashed Phase , On time dilation and synchronicity I , Eine weitere Aüßerung von eine weitere Aüßerung von eine Übung in Erscheinungsformen und Zusammenhang , 4°K , Pale , new work for piano, clarinet and flute - Modelo62

Dec 14, 2010, De Link, Tilburg - same program as Dec 12 , Modelo62

Dec 19, 2010, Museum van Bommel van Dam, Venlo - same program as Dec 12 , Modelo62

2011 - new work for harmonium, two violins and cello, Dirk Luijmes