In June 2023 I was invited to take part in the Chamber Evolution program of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff (Canada) as a composer. There, in my very own composer hut in between the mountains and the pine-trees, I wrote Four Circumstances for Piano Trio (Piano Trio no. 1), which was then premiered by the Faust Trio and the Waldstein Trio, from France and Cyprus respectively.
Lifelines
“Lifelines”, my first studio-album, is live now! The album was successfully crowdfunded in 2021 and recorded with 18 musicians in 2022 including a full string orchestra and piano in the legendary Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, The Netherlands. Now, in 2023, it’s finally ready to go out into the world.
The music on Lifelines portrays my personal view on life, how our own lives and those of others weave around each other, run parallel, tangle, untangle, start and end, just like threads of wool.
The release of the album was celebrated with a concert in my hometown of Utrecht in a beautifully intimate “werfkelder”, a typical cellar along the Utrecht city canals.
Temperature Music
For the ICOS science conference I wrote “Temperature Music”, a piece that translates the current climate crisis to music to better instill its severity in the listener.
Comissioned in 2019 its performance was delayed due to COVID but it finally found its stage in September of 2022, at the ICOS science conference in TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, The Netherlands. The piece was performed by musicians of the Utrechtsch Studenten Concert and was conducted by Sander Teepen. The piece was received to much enthusiasm both from visitors as the (climate) scientists who were present at large.
The piece goes through the history of climate change until the present day and is accompanied by an animation displaying several milestones in climate science as well as a graph displaying the increase in temperature over time. With every performance a new snippet of music is added according to the new climate data from the time between the last and the newest performance.
The piece is influenced by minimalism as to display the continuity of the climate crisis.
Stroom
Comissioned by “Symfonieorkest Nijmegen”, the symphonic orchestra of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, for their anniversary.
The piece called “Stroom”, or “Stream”, embodies the centuries-old connection between the river Waal and the city of Nijmegen. The piece was commissioned by Symfonieorkest Nijmegen to commemorate their 70-year anniversary. The orchestra is conducted by Frans-Aert Burghgraef. The piece combines natural sounds of the city and nature with sweeping harmonies and unforgiving rhythms, just like how our civilisation has to work together with nature, just like the city of Nijmegen does with the Waal river.
The piece is written for large symphonic orchestra with a duration of 05:30 minutes.
Oblivion
Dive into a hazy autumn morning.
I can’t get enough of my Lumix camera and the vintage Canon lens I use it with. Waking up one early November morning I found the world shrouded in fog – before I knew I rushed outside with my camera towards the local forest. The result is as mysterious as it is tranquil, almost meditative, video and soundtrack.
Distant Light
“Distant Light” is an animation created for the choir piece by the same title. Based on Illustrations by Paul van Gemen and on text by Elea Bekkers. Animation and composition by me. Arranged for high voices by Hansje van Welbergen.
Performed by Veronika Akhmetchina, Marleen van Os, Channe Visscher, Viktoria Nikolova, Sylvia Boone, Hansje van Welbergen and Elea Bekkers.
Text:
The trees seem green. The yellow leaves float feebly to the forest floor.
And as she took off she realised she could not fly.
Not even the sun now warmed the city that had killed her dreams.
The light is low and they could only fall.
Life in Winter
In february the city of Utrecht was suddenly treated to a thick blanket of snow, resulting in a winter wonderland. I took my amazing Panasonic Lumix S5 camera out, geared with a vintage canon lens (FD 50mm f/1.4) and took it all in through the viewfinder. My fingers froze over, but it was definitely worth it!
Soundtrack, videography and color grading by me.
Embrace
In socially distanced times personal affection is hard to come by, if not forbidden. With Embrace I translated the feeling of a warm, intimate hug with a loved one to music so we can all still enjoy a hug, albeit a virtual one.
I worked on this piece throughout the first lockdown in 2020. The track was then mastered and mixed by Rogier Steijaert. Listen to the piece on your favourite platform, or check it out below.
Life in Autumn
In the golden hour of autumn, I went out to capture the beautiful colors and ambience with a vintage Canon lens from the 80’s. The result is truly spectactular.
Videography, color grading and editing by me. The video is accompanied by a new piece of music which finds a home in my Lifelines project.
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.
