COMPOSERS

A new piece, Broken Bones, of Bert Appermont has its premiere at Slide Factory during the openingsconcert, Thursday 26 March 2009, 20.15 – 22.30.

Bert Appermont is born in Bilzen on 27th December 1973. This teacher, conductor, composer and arranger studied counterpoint, fugue, orchestra and the conducting of HaFaBra (wind band, fanfare and brass band music) under Edmond Saveniers and Jan van der Roost at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, where he completed his studies with a double masters in musical education and HaFaBra conducting (1998).

He then obtained his Masters in “Music Design for Film & Television” from the “Bournemouth Media School” in England, where he devoted his attention to film and television scoring. Recently, he perfected his composition techniques with the Dutch composer Daan Manneke.

As a musical educator, he has worked in several schools and organisations: he spent 4 years teaching at the Grammar and Music schools in Hasselt. He has also spent 7 years as composer, arranger and live musician for the children’s musical theatre, Wiebe.

He is currently teaching at the Katholieke Hogeschool Limburg and is also working as a guest professor for different organisations and training courses. Inspired by Jan Cober, he has continued to flourish as a guest conductor of his own compositions. He is also a regular guest at clinics and workshops in Belgium and abroad. As a composer he has written not only two musicals but also some 40 pieces for choir, chamber ensemble, wind orchestra and symphony orchestra. In addition to this vast repertoire, he has written a number of pop songs, music for youth theatre, musical packages with an educational character, and music for children - a medium with which he is very familiar. He is known for his virtuoso instrumentation technique and for composing magnificent themes.

Many of his works are based on legends, myths or historical themes, and this gives his music a particular élan. In june 2007, his composition “Fantasia per la Vita e la Morte” has won the first prize in the prestigious composition contest of Torrevieja, Spain. His works have been performed in over 20 countries, and nearly all of his compositions have been recorded on CD by renowned orchestras from countries such as Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium.

A new piece of Eric de Clerq has its premiere at Slide Factory during the opening concert, Thursday 26 March 2009, 20.15 – 22.30.

In his often uncompromising music, Eric de Clercq uses literary texts, electronics and unusual instrumentations. He is inspired by Luigi Nono, Iannis Xenakis, Armando, Alberto Giacometti, Francis Bacon, Charles Bukowski and Kees Ouwens.

He studied composition at the Rotterdam Conservatory under Gilius van Bergeijk, Peter Jan Wagemans and Klaas de Vries. His 30 seconds mini opera “Crépuscule” was very successful and widely performed in France. With his Trio Strakke Lucht (electro-improvisation) he has played at various venues ranging from Munich to Las Vegas.

He is a founding member of the Newt Hinton Ensemble. De Clercq has received commissions from a range of international festivals such as ‘’Musique Action’’ (Nancy, Fr) and ‘’Musicavoix’’ (Evreux, Fr). In addition he was asked by the Rotterdam Art Counsel, NCRV Radio, the Foundation for the Creation of Music and the Amsterdam Arts Foundation to write for Ensemble LOOS, Ensemble Aleph, pianoduo Post & Mulder, Rosa Ensemble, Ricciotti Ensemble, Orkest De Volharding and the Schoenberg Ensemble.

In 2003 Ensemble Aleph presented a comprehensive musical portrait of De Clercq which was performed in both France and The Netherlands. His works have been recorded by pianoduo Post & Mulder, Ensemble Aleph, the Rotterdam Clarinet Quartet and Duo Dubbelduet. His music has been used in numerous dance and theatre productions by for instance Sophie Mathey, De Groep van Steen and Bambie.

Ruud van Eeten received his B.A. in Trombone, Theory of Music, and Orchestral Conducting from the Brabant Conservatory in Tilburg, The Netherlands, and his M.A. in orchestral conducting from the Royal Conservatory The Hague, rounding off his studies conducting the Limburg Symphony Orchestra.

In 2002 he won the Bernard Haitink award, and was appointed assistant conductor at the Limburg Symphony Orchestra for one year. He also assisted Ed Spanjaard, Micha Hamel, Kenneth Montgomery, and Jac van Steen, and took master classes with Georg Fritsch, Marc Soustrot, and Roberto Benzi.

He lead several ensembles and orchestras such as the Nieuw-Ensemble and Ensemble Multifoon, the latter in collaboration with the Aurelia saxophone quartet. In November 2003 he was appointed artistic leader and conductor of Ensemble Multifoon. He conducted Purcell’s opera ‘Dido and Aeneas’ at the Brabant Conservatory. During the Steve Reich Festival in 2003 Ruud van Eeten was a guest conductor at the Royal Conservatory The Hague. At the Traces Festival in 2002 till 2005 he was a guest conductor and gave concerts with Ensemble Multifoon, Ensembles from the Conservatory of Tilburg and ‘Die Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart’. From January till March 2004 he was assistant at the ‘Opéra National de Lyon’ in France, and in June 2004 he was second conductor of the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra during the Holland Festival. During the summer period of 2005 Ruud van Eeten was musical director of the festival opera ‘Tijdvaarders’, written by the Dutch composer Gerard Beljon, and performed by the famous orchestra ‘De Volharding’ and in January 2006 he was assistant conductor during the opera ‘Turandot’, with the ‘Nationale Reisopera’. In 2007 he was guest-conductor with the Musikcollegium Winthertur Switzerland and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. In 2008 he toured Indonesia with an ensemble from Het Brabants Orkest.

As a composer, Ruud van Eeten wrote a trombone concerto for the principal trombonist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which was performed with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra. He composed works for orchestra De Volharding and the New Trombone Collective. By assignment from Tilburg University he wrote a piece for choir and orchestra based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In 2004 his piece Marianne was first performed in Tilburg at the Traces Festival. For this composition he received the Anjer Muziek award. His concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra was premiered by the Aurelia and the Limburg Symphony Orchestra, a commission by the ‘Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst’. The ‘Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst’ also commissioned him to write a new piece for the New Trombone Collective, which was premiered in 2007 during the International Trombone Festival in Rotterdam. In 2009 his first opera ‘King William II’, will be premiered in Tilburg.

In March 2006, Ruud van Eeten was appointed artistic and financial director of the Music centre De Toonzaal, in Den Bosch (Netherlands). Besides programming, he is also involved in lectures, workshops, festivals and competitions.

Evert Josemanders stydied jazz at the Rotterdam Conservatory with Bart van Lier and Ilja Reijngoud. Just after his graduation he was employed with the Marine band of the Royal Navy as solotrombonist of light music.

Evert is a much in demand soloist and played with various ensembles. Josemanders leads a group called “Mambo Beach Band”, consisting of professional musicians and furthermore he is an arranger and composer. He wrote many Dutch songs and used them in the dinnershow “Dat was mooi!”.

During Slide Factory 2007 in the Marineband concert, he was a soloist in the world premiere of his programmatic composition “Hluhluwe” depicting a child dreaming about a far away jungle.

Sources of inspiration are Frank Zappa, Alison Krauss, Frank Rosolino and Aardman.

A new piece, Vision Apocalyptica, of Guillermo Lago has its premiere at Slide Factory during the concert Slide meets Sax, Sunday 29 March 2009, 11.00 – 12.30.

Guillermo Lago is the composing alter ego of Willem van Merwijk. The first pieces Lago wrote were two tangos for the concert program (and later a CD) 'Tangón'. In this program the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet investigated together with Ville Hiltula (bandoneon) and Juan Pablo Dobal (piano) how the concert-tango is developing after the death of its inventor Astor Piazzolla.

In the process of finding composers and repertoire for this tour van Merwijk discovered that he himself had very distinct musical ideas and decided to write two pieces (Pequeñitos/Tonto del Pueblo) under a spanish pseudonym: Guillermo Lago. When continuing to compose he decided to stick to this name, because it suited his music perfectly.

Christian Lindberg´s career as a composer is unusual. Already at six he composed music, but at the age of sixteen he decided to study harmony, counterpoint and composition seriously with Torsten Nilsson in Stockholm. Two years later, he wrote his first composition, a brass quintet, but after the first rehearsal Christian was so shocked and disappointed that he withdrew the piece, and decided never to compose again.

This was roughly the same time as he fell in love with, and took up the trombone, and instead of composing, he started to orchestrate, arrange and edit music by other composers. He also decided that his main goal would be to inspire other composers to write for trombone. Today he has arranged over 100 works for trombone, and over 80 trombone concerti have been dedicated to him by composers such as Berio, Takemitsu and Xenakis. However, after eager persuasion from his friend, the composer Jan Sandström, he broke his promise not to compose. At the age of 39 he accepted a commission from the string orchestra Musica Vitae. Sandström said:

Whatever you do, do not try to prove anything. Just write whatever comes to your mind without judging it as good or bad. Like when a 5 year old makes a drawing.

This first piece,called Arabenne, was to Lindberg´s big surprise a huge success both with the audience and the critics. Immediately after the first performance Christian was faced with two new commissions and an offer from BIS-records to start an extensive recording project with him as composer. Today Lindberg have recorded 3 portrait CD:s of his own music on BIS, and has received commissions from orchestras such as The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Verdi Orchestra Milano and the Australian Chamber Orchestra fo name a few. Particularly successful was his pieces Akbank Bunka, Helikon Wasp, The World of Montuagretta and Mandrake in the Corner.

Chick´a´Bone Checkout commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, received three standing ovations in a row at the premiere, something that had not happened to a contemporary piece in 14 years in Orchestra Hall, Chicago. Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Tribune and New York Times gave Lindberg stunning reviews for this composition. Today Lindberg is booked up to 2011 with international commissions. His own philosophy regarding his work as a composer is simple:

I do not write in any style whatsoever! I purely listen to what my brain and soul tells me, and what I hear I simply put down on paper. To say anything more about my work would be pretentious nonsense.

> see the Lindberg Special

Andrew Peggie studied microbiology, then music and recording techniques at Surrey University. He participated in the Musical Theatre Masterclasses at Oxford University, endowed by Sir Cameron Mackintosh and directed by Stephen Sondheim. He has composed original music and created orchestrations for over a dozen music theatre works including EYAM (with Stephen Clark), The Beggar's Opera (a contemporary version for the Centenary of the Lyric, Hammersmith, London), and Of Bricks & Bones (for Welsh National Opera and the Birmingham Hippodrome), with premières also in venues such as the South Bank, Winchester Cathedral and the Brighton Dome.

A well-known specialist in music participation projects, he has worked with the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras, the English Northern Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, the Vale of Glamorgan and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festivals, as well as numerous non-classical music ensembles including African drumming, samba, gamelan, tsugaru shamisen, DJs, rap artists and gospel singers. As Music Development Director for the City of Birmingham (as UK City of Music), he instigated and managed 500 music-making sessions throughout the city and set up the highly respected Sound It Out organisation in the UK.

Now living in France, he is resident composer with the company Mécanique Vivante creating repertoire for specially invented musical sirens, utilising wi-fi server-controlled jet engine technology. Multi-media installations have taken place in many cities and festivals, including London, Newcastle, Paris, Luxembourg, Madrid, Rotterdam, Terschelling and Melbourne.

He was composer in residence for the International Festival of Glass Biennale in the UK (2008), conceptualising glass-originated sounds, installations and live performances around the campus. For Ellipse Production (Languedoc-Roussillon, France) he conducted a Carmen production involving 200+ local participants, and is currently preparing a new version of Madama Butterfly for an ensemble of 13 musicians and 12 singers to be premièred in 2009.

A new piece for trombone quartet of Tim Raschke has its premiere at Slide Factory during the openingsconcert, Thursday 26 March 2009, 20.15 – 22.30.

Tim Raschke studied the trombone with Joachim Mittelacher at the Hochschule der Künste (now Universität der Künste) in Berlin from 1990 to 1995. He graduated in 1999.

From 1993 he worked with Theater des Westens and Staatsorchester Frankfurt/Oder and was a substitute with the main Berlin orchestras. He is now principal trombone with Staatstheater Wiesbaden. His compositions were premiered by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal.

A new piece of Claudia Rumondor has its premiere at Slide Factory during the concert Slide meets Sax, Sunday 29 March 2009, 11.00 – 12.30.

Claudia Rumondor, M.A. (1983 Zaandam, Netherlands) studied Composition at the Conservatory of Amsterdam (CvA) with Daan Manneke, Wim Henderickx and Theo Loevendie and attended harp lessons with Anke Bottema, Gertru Pasveer and Alexandre Bonnet.

Claudia was the first CvA composer to graduate with a teaching license. In order to proceed her research in educating compostion the CvA has provided her with a Top Talent scholarship. Claudia’s compositions have won several prizes, including a first prize at the Prinses Christina Concours and the Henriëtte Bosmansprijs 2008 of the audience.

In 2004, one of her orchestral pieces was selected for the finals of the Project Jonge Componisten. Some of her compositions have been published by Donemus. Works have been performed by Holland Symfonia, the Nieuw Ensemble and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble. Claudia studied Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and has a MA degree in film studies. She also recently finished a study in Musicology at the UvA.

Next to that, she works as a freelance reviewer for the Noordhollands Dagblad, is a board member and co-founder of the Stichting Jan Rokus van Roosendael and works at the Conservatory of Amsterdam as coordinator Artist in Residence of Bart Schneemann.

A new piece, Cubac, of Daniel Schnyder has its premiere at Slide Factory during the concert Slide meets Sax, Sunday 29 March 2009, 11.00 – 12.30.

Daniel Schnyder is known as a composer/performer with a dynamic reputation in both jazz and classical fields. As a performer Daniel toured and recorded with many well known classical musicians, world music artists and jazz players. Daniel was born 1961 in Zurich, Switzerland and lives in New York City.

His orchestral works and his chamber music compositions have been performed and recorded all over the world. Among his credits as a composer are commissions to write compositions for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York, the Tonkuenstler Orchestra in Vienna, the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Berlin, The Norrlands Operan in Sweden, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Vienna Art Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich (4th Symphony, commissioned by David Zinman), the Opera of Bern ("Tempest" by Shakespeare), the NDR Orchestra in Hannover, the NDR Big Band in Germany, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the New York based new music group "Absolute Ensemble" under the direction of Kristjan Jaervi (Bass Trombone Concerto for David Taylor) and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra among many others.

The Album "Absolution" (Enja Nova) featuring Daniel Schnyder's Trombone Concerto received a Grammy nomination for "Best Classical Small Ensemble Recording" in 2002. The vast catalogue of his chamber music works has been performed by many famous artists like Emmanuel Pahud, Eroica Trio, Schweizer Klaviertrio, Radek Baborak, Borislav Strulev, Ole Edvard Antonsen, Reinhold Friedrich, Carmina Quartett, David Jolley, David Taylor and the Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble just to mention a few.

He gives master classes in composition, chamber music, improvisation and saxophone. He also works as a consultant and producer for creative solutions and ideas in classical music and jazz, working closely with major festivals, promoters and ensembles.