Wayfare Concerto was commissioned as an ouverture by the Utrecht Student Orchestra (USConcert). With little more in terms of requirements than length and instrumentation, I had total creative freedom. Wayfare Concerto is the result: a large orchestral work encompassing humanity’s fascination with the great unknown: space.

The piece is divided into three movements. The first movement, “Wanderlust”, is about the itch to go to space. To the ends of history humanity has always been fascinated by the sky and everything beyond. The second movement, “Ode to Laika”, is an ode to Laika, the dog the USSR sent to space during the infamous “space race” between the USSR and the USA. Laika died shortly after leaving Earth’s atmosphere, due to overheating and stress. The third movement, “The Journey”, resembles an actual journey into space. The hectic preparations, the launch, the weightlessness and touchdown.

Behind this all was a motivation to first and foremost write an exciting and fun piece to play for the Utrecht Student Orchestra. Wayfare Concerto will première on tour with the orchestra in Graz, Austria. The Dutch première will follow in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

For upcoming performances of Wayfare Concerto, see the concerts page.

I am part of the Dutch Chamberchoir’s talent development programme, NKK NXT. I contributed to the project in many ways: I’m one of the eight singers, had a share in the concept, wrote new choral music for the choir, designed the marketing material and shared in the marketing tasks.

NKK NXT was tasked with one thing: create the choral performance of the future. For half a year with seven others Sem worked together on the concept. The result is “I Want To Be Like You”, a performance that blurs the line between what is real and fake by envisioning what role technology will have in the future of choral music. For the concept “Alex Inc.” was created, an AI wanting to be human, using the singers of NKK NXT 18/19 to find what it is to be truly human in a series of simulations.

NKK NXT 18/19 performed multiple times, including a sold out three-day concert series in Het Huis Utrecht and multiple festivals. For upcoming dates, check the concerts page.

Photography by Veerle Basitaanssen and Sem Hak.

In 2017 together with writer and mezzo-soprano Elea Bekkers I founded “Staatsgreep”, an art collective focussed on radical new art. With Staatsgreep Elea and I want to take modern art out of high-society theatres and operahouses and bring it to the audience instead. By adressing modern issues in a confronting yet accessible way STAATSGREEP makes art part of modern-day society again.

Staatsgreep is currently working on multiple projects. Our most ambitious project is a music-theater piece in three acts called “Zij die Achterbleven”, or “Those who were left behind”. This operatic triptych tells the stories of two individuals who, through each-others fate, lose grip on reality. “Zij die Achterbleven” combines music, theater and dance into one artwork, making it a true gesamtkunstwerk. The first act “De Man die afdreef op de Zee”, or “The man who drifted off at sea”, premièred at my final examn in composition in 2017. Currently work has started on the third act.

In 2018 we launched a clothing line by the name of “Gay Cult” consisting only of second-hand clothing and fabrics and making them into new pieces. The various designed prints, varying from “consume” to “family disappointment”, target the growing consumerism crisis worldwide, while also aiming to shine a light on “cults”, minority groups which by popular media have gained a negative or wrong image such as the LGBT+ community.