“E” de Esperanza Premiere

Yesterday saw the premiere of ‘Bosquejos Del Bosco’ (sketches of Hieronymus Bosch; schetsen van Jeroen Bosch) for solo clarinet at the Dutch Clarinet Festival 2016 ‘Royal Clarinets’ concert. Royal because the full clarinet section of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra were the featured soloists at this concert. My piece was performed by Arno Piters (who also happens to…

I had the pleasure and honor to be at all the saxophone exams at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam this summer (not so surprising as I am teaching there…). The saxophone class lead by my dear friend Arno Bornkamp is of amazing variety and artistry. On Friday the 3rd of June three members of the Ebonit…

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…

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….

Too much happening lately; so busy that I did not have time to write on it… Just pre-informing you – so to say – that my ‘Charlas’ were premiered by the Mirasol Duo at the NASA Biennial in Lubbock, TX, USA, March 12, 2016; that ‘Consecuencias’ for clarinet and string quartet were premiered by Harmen…

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…