Utrechts Requiem for choir SATB, mezzosoprano/baritone and chamber orchestra
Stories of citizens of Utrecht, put to music by 4 different composers uniting in one Requiem. A wonderful initiative that proved to be very successful in 2017. For the second edition I was invited to compose the Sanctus and the Offertorium.
The Requiem was performed by the Insomnio Ensemble conducted by Ulrich Pöhl, NEON Chamber choir, Childrens Choir Utrecht and with soloists Esther Kuiper and Michael Wilmering.
Listen to the radio broadcast from TivoliVredenburg here
The Requiem was performed by the Insomnio Ensemble conducted by Ulrich Pöhl, NEON Chamber choir, Childrens Choir Utrecht and with soloists Esther Kuiper and Michael Wilmering.
Listen to the radio broadcast from TivoliVredenburg here
Lunam, ne quidem Lunam for voice and symphony orchestra | 4.30 |2016
 Sophie-Nouchka Wemel and Astrid Marc from France were the first to perform 'Lunam' in the Masterclass about the work
The International Vocal Competition (IVC) in Den Bosch asked me to write the compulsory work for the 2016 edition. A fantastic commission!! And quite a challenge, with a.o. Willem Jeths (2014) and Jeppe Moulijn (2012) as my predecessors! The text is part of the 'Bosch en Breughel' poems by Dutch poet Pé Hawinkels, written for the painting 'Garden of Earthly Delights' by Dutch late medieval painter Jheronimus Bosch. All participating singers are required to learn this composition, which will be sung in Latin, translation by Harm-Jan van Dam.
The right panel is the inspiration for my composition. Some say it describes hell, to me the strange creatures are demons, demons that haunt us or did so in the past. They come out at night when the moon appears and give us 'the blues'. The Philharmonie Zuidnederland with Kenneth Montgomery performed on Sept 16, 2017 in Den Bosch with two finalists: Kinga Borowska below left and IVC winner Yajie Zhang on the right:
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The Garden of Earthly Delights by Jheronimus Bosch, ca 1500
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Grief of Gravity for soprano, mixed choir and wind orchestra | 25' | 2010
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Jos van de Braak, founder and conductor of Orkest Zuid (NL) asked me to write a cantata
for wind orchestra, mixed choir and soprano on the 'Big Bang' theme. 'Grief of Gravity' had its premiere in Eindhoven on 2 May 2010 with Maaike Widdershoven, soprano and the Projectkoor Paul Gieles. On 3 July 2010 they performed in the Muziekgebouw aan t IJ in Amsterdam. June 1st 2013: Rotterdams Blaasorkest performed with me singing de soprano solo! June 27th 2015 Orkest Zuid performed the piece again, also with me singing the soprano solo! December 10th 2017: Frysk Harmony Orkest, also with the composer as soloist. The story: Irma Achten wrote the philosophical as well as romantic text about Gravity and Awareness, two symbolic figures who fall in love with eachother. They bare many children: the grass, the trees, rocks, hummingbirds and of course: man. He calls himself: Matter, with 'a big head and spectacled eyes' and denies everything that can not be measured. His mother Awareness leaves her husband Gravity and night after night she crawls into his dreams to tell him there's more to life than mere facts. She cannot return to Gravity until Matter realizes this. Published by Baton Music 'Sung passionately in a glowing bed of windinstruments' Eindhovens Dagblad |
100 people on stage, all performing my music!
What an honor! |