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…

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…

When in Porto last week I got a phone call from clarinettist Harmen de Boer. He asked me if I would be interested writing a solo piece for clarinet for the upcoming https://www.facebook.com/klarinetfestival in the Amsterdam Muziekgebouw aan het IJ as he is co-hosting this huge festival. Did not take me too long to answer…

It is a long climb from Porto’s ancient town centre to the Escola Superior de Música e das Artes (ESMAE), the Porto Academy of Music, but the walk is wonderful. Leading from the Douro river through stairways, squares full of houses covered with traditional azuléjos, the famous blue porcelain tiles from Portugal, and small mysterious…

Van de oude binnenstad van Porto naar het plaatselijke conservatorium, de Escola Superior de Música e das Artes (kortweg ESMAE) is het een hele klim, maar de wandeling is zeer de moeite waard. De weg leidt van de oever van de Douro omhoog via trappen, en pleinen vol prachtige panden, gedecoreerd met traditionele azuléjos, geglazuurde…

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of hearing a new work of a dear friend being premiered. Composer Perry Goldstein wrote …shreds and patches… for pianist Gilbert Kalish and it was premiered in the (New York) Lincoln Center Chamber Music series on April 30. I met Perry in 1994 when as a member of the…

Recently I was approached by James Barger from the Mirasol (saxophone) Quartet with a request to write a saxophone-duo to be premiered at the NASA 2016 in the USA. To fund this he and Ben Still started an initiative to be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/895230693873146/ Looking forward very much to start writing on this duo.

Looking forward to hearing the ELLE Quartet and the ESMAE Big Band at the Academy of Music in Porto in the beginning of May 2015 at their annual Jazz Festival. ELLE and the Big Band will perform two of my Ciudades and I will give a short lecture on my music. I will keep you…

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…

Saturday the 22nd of November 2014 will see the premiere of my three movement piece El Maestrat. Commissioned by the Sax2014 Festival http://saxfestival.nl and written for a huge saxophone orchestra of amateur performers from all levels. Location: Muziekgebouw aan het IJ in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The three movements all speak of ‘El Maestrat’ (Català)(El Maestrazgo…