Dolly and Guillaume. And Harry!
This is Maarten Ornstein with the news
Dear friends,
January is already over and the end of Winter is in sight. (I can dream, can’t I?) Although it’s nice to see the snow and white wintery landscapes, I really can’t wait for some warm sunshine and not having to wrap up warm every day.
Speaking of wrapping up, last December I did a nice interview about Dolly Parton, Guillaume de Machaut and other favourites of mine for the Concertzender, which is about the only serious music radio station here in in The Netherlands. Listen here:
The station is small, idealistic and operates on a very tight budget, but still manages to produce high quality shows about all kinds of music, presented by people that actually know what they’re talking about. Compared to the barren landscape that is our national radio with its many automated playlists of same-old and unwelcome interruptions about traffic or sports, it’s a real oasis and fully deserves more support.
February 7th: Harry Bannink special
One of our most prolific composers who wrote so many songs that still resonate today, Harry Bannink has always been one of my favourite songwriters. Composing almost exclusively for radio, TV and musical, he had the rare talent of writing songs that were both complex and easy to sing along with. On February 7th we celebrate his music with a special concert and talkshow, presented by Aad van Nieuwkerk. Where else would we do this than in Splendor, that wonderful place in Amsterdam where you can see and hear high quality music almost every night. Tickets are going fast so hurry up.
This newsletter, live!
Speaking of Splendor, last month I did an experimental live version of this newsletter, talking about future plans, explaining my music and motives and playing some stuff. It worked a treat so I’ll be doing this more regularly from now on. Watch this space.
Tell it to the Sky première
On January 15th we premiered my new song cycle Tell it to the Sky, with six songs on poetry written in Gaza during the war and a four connecting instrumental pieces. I’m so happy it was a huge success, and more concerts and a recording are being planned. The next one is on March 15th in the Witte Kerkje in Heiloo. Here’s a new video from a radio gig.
I wish I had more time
There are so many thing to write about, but I have to get on with composing the new opera Escape in Ecstasy which will have a first pre-première in Maastricht on September 20th. A tight deadline indeed, so let me conclude this newsletter with this:
RIP Jeroen Bal. We’ll listen to some Lyle Mays another time.