Portrait of a friend
A new camera, a vintage lens and a willing subject. Out we went. Into the park, looking for those settings you’d usually pay no mind to. I recently saw a video on unexpectedly beautiful backgrounds for portraits, and my friend has a very keen eye for framing and composition, I envy her for that.
Yes, I did recently watch the movie “Portrait de la jeune fille en feu”, or Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Yes, my friend speaks french. I assure you those facts have nothing to do with these portraits. Really.
For InterMezzo Catering I had the honours of creating a logo, a visual language and website.
InterMezzo Catering is run by mezzo-soprano Wilke te Brummelstroete who, with her love for hospitality and hearty food, bakes and cooks the most wonderful food. She specialises in catering for cultural events, like classical concerts.
The visuals are reminiscent of vintage logo’s and etiquettes, poured into a warm yet modern colour-palette. Old-timey decorations are combined with flat, minimalistic surfaces and bold typography.
Check out the website here: intermezzo-cartering.com.
15 Decimeter Supermarket Music
Following the finale performance of the Riciotti “Niet Normaal!” tour it was announced that my piece Fifteen Decimeter Supermarket Music, or “Vijftien Decimeter Supermarktmuziek for you Dutchies, won first price in the composition competition in which I was earlier announced as a top 3 contender.
For the competition I wrote “Fifteen Decimeter Supermarkt Music”, a piece which splits the orchestra into two halves, both representing a visitor in a supermarket. What follows is a series of awkward and silly interactions we’ve all grown all too familiar to since the outbreak of the COVID-19 outbreak. From people reaching for the same product at the same time, to a conquest for the last pack of toilet paper.
The competition called for pieces reflecting on the current measures taken by the Dutch government to limit the spread of COVID-19, such as the 1,5m distance rule. Not only had composers write a piece of music taking this into account, the composers themselves were also tasked with creating spatial planning for their piece and the orchestra, taking the COVID-19 measures into account.
During a very rainy open-air performance, the three finalist works were performed by the Ricciotti Ensemble, amongst other pieces, in the Openlucht Theater Hertme in front of a compact audience due to the COVID-19 regulations. The performance was broadcasted live to a livestream. The registration can be found below.
Samenspeeldag Opstreek
nkknxt1819.nl
For NKK NXT 18/19 I created a website portraying their performative portfolio, all the while sticking to the brand identity earlier created.
Utrechtse Studenten Cantorij
From 2020 onwards I design the promotional materials for the Utrechtse Studenten Cantorij, such as posters and flyers for their concerts.
The assignment is a new and interesting challenge for my skills to combine photography with graphical elements to create a uniform style which continues through the different iterations of the posters.
annatrombetta.com
For mezzo-soprano Anna Trombetta I designed and created the website annatrombetta.com. As a classical singer it can be hard to stand out, so I made sure to give her website the shine it deserves. Subdued mysterieus colors complement a modern font and the landing page gives a taste of what Anna is about: a force to be reconed with.
Eine Alpensinfonie
For the Winter 2019 project the USConcert performs the beautiful and impressive Alpensinfonie by Richard Strauss. A piece like that deserves some impressive promotion, so I designed a poster and visual style for their project. The poster was printed in poster and flyer format and spread in Utrecht and Amsterdam.
Skye
During my travels this summer I visited the Isle of Skye. A breathtaking place, unwordly even, unlike any other. In an effort to portray this beauty I made a video and a soundtrack entitled “Skye”. Available on all major music download and streaming services!
The Isle of Skye. It feels like they took Scotland and boiled all its beauty down and put it on a seperate island. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The island has been overrun by tourism in recent years: day trippers driving their car up to the famous landmarks, taking pictures, and leaving again. Lucky for the adventurous people among us – you’ll find solitude off the beaten path. Well, off the tarmac, that is. The Isle of Skye is home to the aptly named Skye Trail, a rural multi-day hike that takes you from one end of the island to the other.
As crowded as the roads were – so lonely and solemn was the trail. There were days I’d run into only one person going the other way. We’d exchange hello’s and inform eachother about the state of the trail up ahead. There’s something peaceful about the whole ordeal; on the trail the only world that exists is the world you can see and feel. A beautiful yellowish-green landscape of rolling hills with the occasional cliff and sudden outburt of rocks.
I left heavily packed – it was my first long solo trip. Not only that, I’d be wildcamping (my first time ever) and my food allergies mean I need to be prepared for the full trip. My backpack weighed in at a hefty 16kg. I left home with a feeling of doubt – I came back in euphoria. What I thought of as the hardest trip I’d ever make turned out to be one of the most satisfying and rewarding journeys of my life till date.
I packed my camera and came back with my camera filled with video material and a soundtrack written in my head. They boiled down scotland and made it into the Isle of Skye. I took the Isle of Skye and boiled it down to a video.
