It started in an emergency situation: the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet had a cd recording and long series of concerts planned with bandoneonplayer Ville Hiltula and pianist Juan-Pablo Dobal. A program dedicated to the ‘concert tango’ 10 years after the death of Astor Piazzolla. Commissions were given to composers (mainly from Argentina) but two months before the live recording of the cd quite a few composers had surpassed the deadline (not uncommon with composers…:) and a problematic situation was imminent. Then in a bright moment I became aware of the fact that I had quite some ideas on how this ‘Tango after A.P.’ might sound. And started writing down my ideas. When it came to the recording and concert tour I decided to ‘hide’ myself behind a Spanish pseudonym: Guillermo Lago (sort of spanish translation of Willem van Merwijk). This turned out to be a good choice, no one knew that I was G. Lago and audiences would react freely to my music. But even more importantly the name felt comfortable and connectable to my music. These were the (almost) last tangos I wrote by the way…

Slowly by slowly colleagues found out I had cautiously started composing and asked me to write for them. In this period and all over the first years of my composing career my friend saxophonist Ties Mellema was very important for me. I wrote almost ten pieces for him in various combinations (with piano, string quintet, symphony orchestra, choir, saxophone quartet….) and he was a great advocate for my music. Another great friend and advocate in those budding years was bass trombone player Brandt Attema and his wife harp player Astrid Haring.

Then in 2010 I wrote (for Ties and his Amstel Quartet) a suite called ‘Ciudades’ (Cities). That suite became a world wide hit and is now considered a standard piece in the saxophone quartet repertoire. I am very happy that I have been able to contribute to the repertoire of my beloved ensemble and instrument in this way. It did create a lot of interest for my music and after this many requests and commissions followed, in a wider circle than my own friends and colleagues, and also from outside the Netherlands.

From that time on composing became more and more leading in my professional life and I have now at 61 reached the stage where it has become my main way to contribute to the world of music. I have written lots of music for wind instruments and recently I am focusing more on writing for strings and voices. Feel free to check out the sheet music pages and webshop….. and to connect to me. I highly appreciate that!