Parelduiken

| Christina Viola Oorebeek | Renske Vrolijk                | Kris Oelbrandt            | Caroline Ansink

Parelduiken grants you a glimpse into extraordinary music by Dutch composers. Music that caught the eye of music professionals and audiences alike, yet is not often heard anymore. In this program we dive into the most beautiful pearls and give them lustre again in a brand new performance. The pieces are also recorded for the first time.

Aad van Nieuwkerk presents and talks with the composers about their artistic motivations.

Programme

Kris Oelbrandt Fear en Growing Silence from the piano cycle Catharsis (2012)
Caroline Ansink Wasser on Lsjoen From the Yiddish song cycle (1995) on lyrics by Malka Heifetz Tussman
Christina Viola Oorebeek Book of Samples: ‘zero in/zero out’ (2021-2023)
Renske Vrolijk True Love en The Gun in My Pocket uit True Love Song Cycle (2018)

Performers
Gerard Bouwhuis piano, Rosina Fabius vocals, Reinier van Houdt piano, Michel Marang bass clarinet, Katrien Baerts vocals

With Fear and Growing Silence for solo piano, Kris Oelbrandt (b. 1972) reported on a personal quest. The two movements from his piano cycle Catharsis were inspired by the Rules of Benedict, which he experienced up close as a monk. He narrated part of his journey from a turbulent life to the serene balance in the monastery.

Wasser on Lsjoen is part of the Yiddish song cycle composed by Caroline Ansink (1959) on lyrics by Malka Heifetz Tussman. She dedicated the cycle to mezzo-soprano Jard van Nes, who successfully toured with it at home and abroad in the 1990s. Her performance in Carnegie Hall received a jubilant review in the New York Times.

In Book of samples: ‘zero in/zero out’ (2021-2023) for piano and bass clarinet, Christina Viola Oorebeek (b. 1944) shows how to interweave textiles with music. In a historical book of samples from the Parisian textile manufacturer Fortin from 1825, she saw intriguing patterns that she translated into layered and repetitive musical structures.

Renske Vrolijk (b. 1965) wrote her song cycle True Love in response to Donald Trump’s first term as president. Several topics are covered: women as objects of lust, the #MeToo movement and issues of gender and power.

The program committee consists of Aad van Nieuwkerk (VPRO), Doris Hochscheid (cellist, St. Cello Sonata), Aljosja Buijs (pianist, head of classical music Artez Zwolle), David Dramm (composer, Splendor) and Jo Sporck (composer, Nieuw Geneco).

Parelduiken is an initiative of Nieuw Geneco – Society of Dutch Composers in collaboration with VPRO Vrije Geluiden and New Music NOW, and is made possible thanks to a donation from Sociaal Fonds Buma.

The Parelduiken concert will take place Dec. 6 at 12:30 p.m. after the Nieuw Geneco general assembly (ALV). Nieuw Geneco members can register here for the composers meeting and lunch concert.

Guests can register here for the concert.