American Recorder Tour 2015-2016 | Willem Wander van Nieuwkerk

Recorder_workshop Saskia Coolen, her many recorders and I hope to visit the States in 2015-2016. We are now preparing a series of courses and workshops for ensembles (advanced amateurs and professionals), dedicated to the study and performance of my music for recorders.
In addition, we will bring some newly written ensemble pieces and Saskia will play the premiere of a new virtuoso work…Saskia Coolen and I will visit the States in 2015-2016. We are now preparing a series of courses and workshops for ensembles, dedicated to the study and performance of my music for recorders.

In addition, we will bring some newly written ensemble pieces (more in the ‘Recorders without Borders’ series) and Saskia will play the premiere of a new virtuoso work for recorder solo, or possibly even a concerto or concerto grosso, the different parts of which can be played by participants in the courses – a fascinating experience to work on a new piece, both for composer and performers!

Themes include:

Interpretation and ensemble playing: interlocking patterns, rhythmic and melodic awareness
Rhythm and rhytmic articulation
combining a tight rhythm with free phrasing

Below is a list of works from solo to larger ensembles with links to the works. If you have any questions concerning programming, performance, or publications, you are kindly requested to mail me!

Click the titles below to access more information on this website (instrumentation, recordings, video, editions) or download the PDF Van Nieuwkerk’s Works for Recorder with full info.

Solo:
Voci, voci– 9 min – level 5

Duo:
Intro – 3 min – level 2

Trio (renaissance recorders):
So Tear– 16 min – level 5

Kadanza – 2’30” – level 3

Bye bye, Blues (C-U, Jesus)

Quartet:
The Bridal Kiss – 4 min – level 3-4

Stamping Ground (for Angels)– 4 min – level 3

Catch (an Angel)– 1’20” – level 5

Theatre Tango – 4 min – level 3

Quartet– 17 min – level 5

Four to six players ad lib:
Recorders without Borders – 5 min. – level 2-3

Double Quartet:
The Party– 7 min – level ???

Recorder & piano:
Ludwig was here (wasn’t he)– 4 – level ???

Over the Water – 2 min – level 2

Alto recorder, horn and harpsichord:
Adagio, non Adagio – 7min. – level 4

Solo recorders and carillon:
From near and from afar -4,5 – level 5

Solo recorders, percussionists, voice and tape:
Blokken / Blocks – 60 min – level 5

Quartet, voice and harp:
Greetings from the Sea (a musical narrative) – 45 min – level 5

Sextet and harp:
The Water Call – 8 min. – level 3

About me

Musical beauty and simplicity are my aim. My guiding principle is the classical European tradition. Folk music, church music and Early Music are the sources to which I return to seek new melodic beauty. I value musical craftsmanship and intuition highly. Musicians are my first audience. It is their virtuosic interplay, comic or dramatic, but always emotionally charged, that is the musical theater my music presents to the listener. The sounds I cherish most are those that through the musician’s hearts, breath and hands bear the mark of their personal interpretation.
Chamber music is, therefore, central to me – I have written for the Bennewitz Quartet and Harry-Imre Dijkstra, the Skampa Quartet, Rosanne Philippens, the Bartók Trio, the Utrecht String Quartet and many others.
My chamber music for recorders has a special place in my work and is played in large numbers by amateurs. The CD Kadanza is a fruit of decades of collaboration with the best professionals who were often also the best teachers.
For me, choral music is also a species of chamber music. It should challenge and offer musical satisfaction to those many amateur singers – that I am one of.

My music features individual performers – to convey a thought, an emotion, and a story to the audience in a virtuoso and intense fashion.

In rehearsal and performance, the performers and I learn a lot from each other. Sometimes their improvisations are included in the musical story. Scores will always be adapted to their needs.

The interplay between performer and composer is absolutely essential in newly written music. As is the interplay between sponsor and composer.

Would you like me to rehearse with you or do you want to know more about a piece?

Do you want me to write a piece for a particular line-up or event?

Please let me know and I will contact you.

Besides composing, I lecture in New Music at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, with a focus on chamber music and music aesthetics. Some of the writing and thinking that I do there can be found in the ‘text’ section.