To my great delight my dear friend Jacob TV (or in full Jacob ter Veldhuis) called me two weeks ago to invite me and my wife Saskia to a Gala Night at the occasion of the BUMA Awards: he is the first classical (contemporary) composer to win the prestigious BUMA Classical Award. And very well…

Happy to tell you that I sent out my ‘Rimas de Bécquer’, (five rhymes by the romantic Andalusian poet Gustavo Bécquer (1836-1870)) to Fokko Oldenhuis, conductor of the Utrechtse Studenten Cantorij. Five songs for choir (SATB + soloists SATBar) and soprano saxophone, in all some 16 minutes of music. Thus fulfilling one of the promises…

Yesterday I had a first run-through with Harmen de Boer, my friend and colleague at both the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam,  of the clarinet-version of Consecuencias. A very promising and interesting run-through. He will be premiering it with the Nostos String Quartet at the Lago@Splendor concert on March 28, 2016, at…

It’s been quite a time that I posted something, to busy composing (for Mirasol Duo, Studenten Cantorij Utrecht – Ties Mellema and Arno Piters) and performing (with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble). More on the new compositions soon. This post about a wonderful sax-percussion duo from Slovenia, Janina Lorenci and Lola Mlacnik, both studying at the…

Good news today: confirmation of the premiere of ‘Consecuencias’ at the SAX2015 Festival at the CvA (Conservatorium van Amsterdam) by my friend and colleague Arno Bornkamp. Consecuencias is a piece for alto sax and string quartet in three movements. Premiere will be on Friday 27th of November 2015 at 19.00 hours in the CvA.  

Very bad news just after the 2015 summer.  My friend and colleague Ties Mellema – I wrote quite a few pieces for him and his Amstel Quartet and he has been a great inspiration over many years – has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. He is now being treated and his chances of recovery are…

The sax/percussion duo Lorenci/Mlacnik from Slovenia (both of them studying in Amsterdam at the ConservatoriumVanAmsterdam) asked to make an alto sax version of the three Canciones Flamencas, originally for soprano saxophone and marimba (+ bass drum ad lib.). I am a fan of the duo so I could not say no although I am really…

On the doormat today a very nice present: the new CD by the Melisma Saxophone Quartet with music by Bach, Grieg, Ligeti and Lago. The Melisma is a very international group (Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland) and they all graduated from the Amsterdam Conservatory with Arno Bornkamp (and a bit with me as I take over…

Some time ago Shevaughan Beere, baritone saxophonist with the Ferio Saxophone Quartet, approached me: on their first album they would like to include some of my Ciudades. London is not too far away, so we decided to meet somewhere before the recording sessions. On July 27 I flew over to London to find the Quartet…

One of the finest musicians I ever worked with is hornplayer Ron Schaaper (Residentie Orchestra The Hague; Netherlands Wind Ensemble). He also plays some lovely guitar and sings wonderfully, a typical specimen of a very handy and naturally gifted musician. (with a good sense of humor) Always wanted to write something for him and two…