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.
USConcert auditionposters
Two posters for the upcoming auditions of the Utrechtsch Studenten Concert. The overall theme forebodes the upcoming program, including Eine Alpensinfonie by Richard Strauss.
NeSP “Schijn bedriegt”
For the Nederlands Symfonie Project (Dutch Symphony Project) I designed the poster for their 2019 project “Schijn bedriegt” (Appearances are deceiving). The program revolves around mystical stories and fairytales including music by Debussy and Prokofiev and Strauss’s Don Quichote. The poster refers to the latter work and portrays a dreamlike and mirage-like dessert.
staatsgreep.art
A brand identity and website for STAASGREEP.
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 they make art part of modern-day society again.
usconcert.nl
A website and visual identity for the Utrecht Student Orchestra, or USConcert. While being the oldest still active orchestra in The Netherlands, founded in 1824, they are young and dynamic; the orchestra solely exists of university students who alongside their studies make time to make music together. The orchestra specialises in late-romantic works with a special emphasis on Dutch composers.
The new website is a step into the future for this historic orchestra, giving it a new and dynamic look, without being too forward about it. The website offers plenty space for the orchestra’s rich history and introduces a new color scheme based on the previous single color story. By adding a warm and earthy purple to the vivid orange/red the historic yet youthful character of the orchestra is emphasised.
NKK NXT 18/19
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.
NESKO 2018 & 2019
Since 2018 I have been the in-house designer for the Dutch Student Chamber Orchestra (NESKO), giving every edition its pronounced theme and its comprehensive materials. This includes posters, flyers, stickers, CD-cases and so forth.
The theme of NESKO 2018 was “full of stories”, 2019’s theme was “Off the beaten track”. Both themes got to have their own unique feel and look, whilst still keeping a continuity through the years.
The Dutch Student Chamber Orchestra is an orchestra which forms yearly from new members to tour The Netherlands and Belgium with classical chamber music.
Staatsgreep
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.
NSO – tour video
For the Dutch Student Orchestra (NSO) I made an informative video explaining their renewed tour planning.