July 15, 2008 | The dress rehearsal of Koepelzang (Dome Song) by VocaalLAB took place today in the Willibrord Chapel – a building with an high dome and an even higher reverb.

St. Willibrordus Stichting is a well known institution in the Netherlands. It was set up as a psychiatric centre in 1929, and covered a large area with its own laundry, swimming pool, sports room, kitchens, cemetery and gardens. Only the front buildings are still standing in their original form. The building is no longer used as a psychiatric institution, and now serves as a museum.

The semi-staged concert program – part of the Karavaan Festival and performed by a group of excellent young singer – has a slightly ritualistic touch. Apart form the premiere of the 7 Interludes, Koepelzang features work by Morton Feldman, Ron Ford, Seung-Ah Oh, Charlotte Seither, Georges Aperghis,  Henri Pousseur, Antanas Kucinskas and Huang Ruo. Percussionist / composer Arnold Marinissen wrote a remarkable and virtuoso piece for this program – an vivid theatrical contrast to the static works – in which the audience plays a cameo role.

On July 16, percussionist Marinissen is performing Fall #3 and Fall #6 in the Utrecht Catherinakathedraal. The program called Sang Love Songs, with mezzo-soprano Margriet van Reissen, consists also of works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Piet Jan van Rossum, Mirjana Zivkovic, Dugal McKinnon, Alexander Aljabev and Igor Stravinsky.

June 15, 2008 | From 16-20 July, VocaalLAB Nederland will be performing 7 Interludes, a new set of pieces for mixed voices, percussion and harmonium. In the Sint Willbrordkapel in Heiloo, the singers will be positioned around the audience, along the pillars of the dome shaped chapel. The concert program consists of works by different composers from around the world. It is titled Koepelzang (Dome Singing), and it is part of the Karavaan festival 2008.

The 7 Interludes were written for VocaalLAB Nederland, with the question to compose a set of short pieces ( 2 minutes max each) as 'Verwandlungsmusik' for this specific concert setting. I was asked to make use of the round, pillared chapel, and of twelve tubular bells with specified pitches, as well as a harmonium.

Although each of the Interludes starts from these fixed conditions, every piece in the cycle is conceived as its own distinct sound world, evoking the immediacy and presence of the chapel. The 7 Interludes are dedicated to Romain Bischoff, founder and director of VocaalLAB Nederland. The work was commissioned by the Nederlands Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten+.

May 29, 2008 | Pleasant surprise: pianist Dante Boon emailed me yesterday that he is going to perform Fern again, in 'Piano Amsterdam – A Different Tune' Sunday June 1st. The series is organized by pianists Stevko Busch and Dante Boon in order to give space to Amsterdam-based pianists to present their music. Every first and third Sunday of the month, Piano Amsterdam brings performances of contemporary composed and improvised music as well as classical repertoire and jazz in various combinations – often two of them in the same concert. Regularly, premieres of new compositions are being played.

The concert on Sunday is titled Pianotalk Extended; it will take place in the Goethe Institut. Dante Boon will be performing short solo compositions; pianist Stevko Busch and drummer Michael Vatcher will be improvising on the pieces played by Dante. Fern – 2006, dedicated to Dante – is going to be the final piece on the program.