Oh, Alicja
This is Maarten Ornstein with the news
Dear friends,
Unusually, this newsletter starts with a book recommendation. Since I spend almost all my working hours composing a new chamber opera, (more on that later) I have little time for other things. But we all need a break sometimes. Recently, a friend gave me a copy of Alicja Gescinska’s essay Thuis in muziek, published in 2018. In just 114 pages she makes a great case for the power of music to lift not just our spirit, but more importantly our morality and capacity for empathy. There are great little bits on how Adorno totally misunderstood jazz and that Plato thought music could be dangerous to society, as she writes about what what music can actually do for us humans. It’s a great read, and I thoroughly recommend it. It’s published in Dutch, Spanish and Catalan, and you can get it here.
Alchemy and wizardry
Speaking of the power of music, in June cellist Frances Marie Uitti and I will finalise our project Al-Khymia. We have been working on this series of duets since the beginning of 2025, rehearsing, recording, discussing and carefully sculpting the sound of the duo and now we’re in the final stages of editing the recordings and preparing them for release. All in all there are 8 duets filled with whispering melodies, squelchy outbursts, chorales, atmospheric soundscapes and some disruptive scratchiness, all played on the wonderfully quirky aluminum cello and clarinets/saxophones. But that’s not all; oh no… Together with the music we’ll also release a series of images created to reflect the music and which can be used as a graphical score, should you wish to create a similar piece. Neat, no? As I wrote before, I’ve never done anything like this before, and I’m quite proud of how it turned out. Watch this space for a release date sometime later this summer.
Now that you’re here
If you’re reading this, it means that you obviously enjoyed the above. And you know what, I do this every month; a newsletter documenting my life as a musician, updating you on my projects and also sharing my thoughts on things that are important to me. It takes quite a bit of time to write this, but I love doing it. I do not use any AI as I prefer to make my own mistakes. If you like my monthly newsletter then please show your appreciation by subscribing, or even better, pledge your support. Thanks!
Escape in Ecstasy
You may remember that I spent all of April on Fair Isle, composing music for the new chamber opera Escape in Ecstasy. In June, we will have a first rehearsal and needless to say I’m quite excited (and nervous as always) to hear my work played by the fantastic musicians that are in the ensemble. In a previous newsletter I wrote about the opera in more detail, which you can read here. Escape in Ecstasy will have its pre-première at the Musica Sacra Festival in Maastricht on September 20th. Keep an eye on their website for tickets and times.
As I said,
These days I’m almost completely absorbed by composing, which takes up all my time. If you want to hear me play, just head over to the charming Pianola Museum in Amsterdam on June 12. I’ll be playing with my fearless trio DASH! and look forward to seeing you there.