Programming a concert is like making a good cup of coffee: it needs the right ingredients as well as the right duration: during one of my meetings a cup of "do it yourself coffee" was served with an hourglass, so you would end up with the ideal taste!
The 3rd concert at Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York featured no less than 2 famous ensembles: the ICE Ensemble from Chicago, one of the major new music ensembles in America, and the Dutch MAE. Today the programmes consisted totally of Dutch composers: Peter Adriaansz' Structures VII opened the evening in a wonderful way. This was followed by 3 works by Michel van der Aa: Oog, Quadrivial and Rekindle, extremely precise performed by ICE, who will be doing a full Van der Aa program later in May. In Hyperamplified the ensemble was enlarged by the composer himself, Yannis Kyriakides, of whom the MAE after the intermission performed a portrait concert with 4 of his works. Thus a nice overview of Yannis' oeuvre was given to a good and enthusiastic audience. Covertures was introduced by Yannis as an express version of the 8 hour long original version of this electronic work. The winning composition of Toonzetters 2010, Paramyth, was performed next. Toonzetters is the annual competition at which the best 10 compositions of the previous concert season are celebrated; Paramyth was awarded the Buma Cultuur Toonzetters award last June in Amsterdam. As they Step (for violin and double bass) and The Arrest completed the evening.
During the day I had several meetings: we discussed Yoshi Onishi's commission for large ensemble as a result of his winning of the Gaudeamus Prize 2011. Next I had a nice meeting with Zach Layton and Ed Patuto, respectively the programmer and director of the Issue Project Room; we discussed the potential of this festival and made plans for next year.

More pictures on Flickr and a review in the New York Times!

Gaudeamus director, Henk Heuvelmans, is currently in New York to visit the Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York. Through this blog he will keep you posted.

The second concert at Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York was filled with electronics. The new Issue Project Room space is perfect for the very well balanced spatial sounds of Wouter Snoei. The new space at Livingstone street 110 (see the photo: this gigantic building is really beautiful, but not entirely owned by Issue (yet?)) has a rather big acoustic because of the marble floor. Wouter Snoei was interviewed by programmer Zach Layton before the concert started and he explained his involvement in the Wave Field Synthesis 192 loudspeaker project and therefore was asked to advize Issue PR when they start building in their multi speaker sound system in the coming months. Wouter performed 2 of his works, including "Pulse" in which he uses his intreguing homebuilt electronic wheels. Next came Matthew Ostrowski; he ended his first set with a loud bang, concluding that "that's why this is called experimental music". His electronic gloves in the second work held their strength until the very end: loud cheers from the audience! After the intermission Ted Hearne introduced his duo with Philip White's live-electronics as: "We are R We Who R We" which was sound poetry already before their performance started: a range of short works in which all possibilities of the voice came along: shouting, singing, speaking, rapping, and all that with such great energy and passion, supported by Philip's electronics made a good ending to this night.
Earlier today I had a meeting with Erwin Maas of the Dutch Consulate in New York. Erwin was really essential in realizing this Gaudeamus NY festival and also supports the upcoming reception on Saturday. On my way to that meeting I passed through Times Square (photo) and noticed there are still some square meters empty: perhaps our advertisement there next year? (donators are very welcome!).
Meanwhile even the door-to-door newspapers in the hotel have nice articles about Gaudeamus Muziekweek NY. So, we expect even more audience tomorrow!

More pictures will be posted on our Flickr page in the upcoming days.

Gaudeamus director, Henk Heuvelmans, is currently in New York to visit the Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York. Through this blog he will keep you posted.

A packed house at the opening concert of the Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York witnessed the american premiere of Gaudeamus Prize 2011 winner Yoshi Onishi's "Depart dans..." by the Wet Ink Ensemble, conducted by the composer himself. I arrived in New York Wednesday afternoon, just on time to see a dress rehearsal at the new Issue Project Room at Livingstone street 110. It's a great place, which in the months to come will be turned into one of the hottest art venues of Brooklyn. Walking over there from my hotel I bumped into Yoshi, who was standing on the pavement next to a harp: this looked really very funny, as if he was promoting his concert on the street. In any case, it worked: the hall was as good as sold out. And in that audience there were a great number of Gaudeamus Prize winners: Yoshi Onishi, Christopher Trapani, Ted Hearne, Oscar Bianchi (all on the picture), Yannis Kyriakides, Sampo Haapamaki, but also Wei-chi Lin and Hugo Morales (who both received honorable mentions) were there. So, Gaudeamus Muziekweek has really landed in New York. Issue's director Ed Patuto proudly opened the festival, the first big event in the new premises of Issue Project Room.
The Wet Ink Ensemble performed in various instrumentations works by Onishi, Trapani, Hearne and also Richard Barrett (who won Gaudeamus Prize in 1987) next to very interesting works by young members of the ensemble Kate Soper and Alex Mincek.
Tomorrow's concert features Wouter Snoei and more live electronics.

More pictures will be posted on our Flickr page in the upcoming days.

Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York is announced in the New York Times.Click here for the article.

Last September, the Gaudeamus Muziekweek has experienced its first edition in Utrecht and now a second milestone is within reach. From Wednesday January 25 through Saturday January 28 2012, the first edition of the Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York will take place. A festival highlighting some of the extraordinary talent that has emerged from the Gaudeamus Muziekweek.  Partner in the organization of this American edition is the ISSUE Project Room, a concert hall in Brooklyn New York. Like Guadeamus this platform serves as a catalyst and incubator for development in contemporary music. Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York presents a mix of Dutch and American ensembles and composers, like Yannis Kyriakides, Michel van der Aa, ensemble MAE and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).

Click here for more information on Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York.



RSVP on Facebook

Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York is supported, in part, by public funds from the Netherlands Cultural Services and has received funding through a grant from the Netherland-America Foundation. Support has also been provided by Buma Cultuur, Gaudeamus Muziekweek and Muziek Centrum Nederlands with special thanks to Erwin Maas.

Program Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York:

Wed January 25
Wet Ink ensemble
Yoshiaki Onishi – Depart dans… (winner Gaudeamus Prize 2011)
Ted Hearne – Vessels (winner Gaudeamus Prize 2009)
and work of:
Richard Barrett (winner Gaudeamus Prize 1989)
Christopher Trapani (winner Gaudeamus Prize 2007)
Alex Mincek
Kate Soper

Thu January 26
electronic music from
Wouter Snoei en Matthew Ostrowski
R WE WHO R WE: composer-performers Ted Hearne (voice) en Philip White (electronics)

Fri January 27
Ensemble MAE
Portrait of Yannis Kyriakides (winner Gaudeamus Prize 2000)
-Covertures (electronic)
-Paramyth (violin, clarinet, piano, electronics)
-As They Step (viola, contrabass, electronics)
-The Arrest (violin, clarinet, piano, contrabass, video, soundtrack)
ICE International Contemporary Ensemble
Peter Adriaansz – Structure VII
Michel van der Aa – Oog (winner Gaudeamus Prize 1999)
Michel van der Aa – Quadrivial
Yannis Kyriakides – Hyperamplified

Sat January 28
Iktus Percussion
Michel van der Aa – Between
Ron Ford – Shift
Hugo Morales – Solo for amplified triangle (honorable mention Gaudeamus MW 2009)
György Ligeti – Poème Symphonique (for 100 metronomes)
Ensemble MAE
Robert Ashley - in Memoriam Esteban Gomez (quartet) 
Luiz Yudo - El Camino  (ensemble and video score)  
Silvia Borzelli - Own Pace (amnesia 3b) (contrabass solo)
Claudio Baroni - Abstract Terror (electric quartet and video)