Coming Friday 14th of April (2023) a new piece for accordion and string quintet (quartet + double bass) will be premiered! Called “‘E’ de Esperanza” it speaks of hope in times of tension and menace. All this because I had the good fortune to meet Vincent van Amsterdam, a great virtuoso and ambassador of his…

Yesterday night I witnessed the world premiere of my work ‘Energía’ by the Trio Abril and it was simultaneously their ‘world premiere’; their first concert. All this in a small venue in the lovely town of Naarden near Amsterdam (the Netherlands). An all-star trio with Juani Palop (soprano, alto & tenor saxophones), Arno Bornkamp (alto…

With the help of my excellent webmaster Merijn Dijkstra I just added a new page (MEDIA) to my site so that visitors who just want to watch and/or listen to my music can now more easily do so. When you want to listen to a specific work you will find more links in the corresponding…

In May 2021 Caspar Vos, pianist and artistic director of the Schiermonnikoog Music Festivals approached me with the request to write a piece for the 20th International Schiermonnikoog Chamber Music Festival. For the first anniversary of the Festival I had written a fun piece for the Syrene Saxophone Quartet yet this time the idea was…

One of the greatest events for me over the last years was the premiere of ‘Ríos’ (Rivers) by the NAKK (Nieuw Amsterdams Klarinet Kwartet) and the UvA Orchestra Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (oldest symphony orchestra of Amsterdam, 144 years in 2022) under the guidance of conductor Konradin Herzog at the famous Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, 18th of…

Last Thursday 1st of September 2022 I drove to a small town in Germany called Oelde to witness the premiere of the ‘four saxes plus symphony orchestra’ version of three Ciudades (Córdoba, Sarajevo and Addis Ababa). Performed by the wonderful Xenon Quartet and the Nord West Deutsche Phiharmonie in an open air venue in a…

Over the years I have of course met quite some colleague saxophonists, but I think the most humorous and simultaneously intelligent colleague/friend is french saxophonist/composer/arranger Philippe Geiss. Alsatian born and since quite some time professor at Strassbourg Academy of Music he is traveling the world as a composer, teacher and musician.His interests and capacities go…

It is obvious that I have a great love for the Iberian peninsula, its cultures and its languages. I decided to translate that love into a cycle of 25 poems for soprano saxophone and choir in the 5 largest languages of Iberia. I am now halfway this project called ‘The Iberian Treasure’. I started with…

One of the nicest jobs I have is coaching the YoungNBE every year; the parallel ensemble of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble with ten young talented wind players from the Netherlands or studying at an Academy of Music in the Netherlands. This is how I got to know Teresa Costa, a great young flutist from Portugal….

The Netherlands Wind Ensemble has played a major role in my life for over 30 years. I have been extremely lucky performing with this splendid group and then also being invited to arrange for the ensemble. I owe my performing colleagues, staff members, production crew and directors Bart Schneemann and Niek Wijns so much… Now…