“E” de Esperanza Premiere

ByWillem van Merwijk

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 instrument the accordion. He asked me to adapt a piece I wrote for wind orchestra for accordion solo and wind orchestra. (available soon…) I told him a would really like to write a chamber music piece for accordion and strings too…. and then the occasion presented itself: a Friday night concert in the well known radio series in Vredenburg Concert hall in Utrecht. (live broadcast on national radio) Looking forward!

Similar Posts

  • Catching up 1

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    It has been 5 years that I posted here and a LOT has happened since. I will inform you very soon! I will sort of start by going back first and then slowly approach the now…..

  • New Ciudad: Tokyo

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    A promise I made to the Amstel Quartet when I wrote my first 4 Ciudades was that I would regularly add a new city portrait… Well I did, but maybe less frequently than I had hoped; always too busy of course. Last year I added Köln (Germany; for the Signum 4tet) and now comes a…

  • Consecuencias

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    Sort of outburst of creative energy over the last month. Over two weeks ago now I finished ‘Consecuencias’ for alto saxophone (or clarinet in Bb) and string quartet (or string orchestra). A three movement piece, first movement ‘de la ignorancia’ (consequences of ignorance), second ‘del amor’ (for my wife Saskia) and third movement ‘de la…

  • Xenon, Summerwinds and Ciudades!

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    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…

  • Rimas and Bosquejos on SoundCloud Channel

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    I just posted the LIVE recording of both Bosquejos del Bosco (Sketches of Hieronymus Bosch) for solo clarinet, LIVE recording of the world premiere! by Arno Piters (amazing performance!) and three of my “Rimas” for choir SATB and soprano saxophone, another LIVE performance; by Ties Mellema – soprano saxophone and the Utrechtse Studenten Cantorij conducted…

  • Catching up 5: Ríos (Rivers)

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    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…