orchestra & ensembles | Willem Wander van Nieuwkerk

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2018c Utrechts Requiem: In Paradisum (Chamber version)

4 solo voices, clarinet, violin, violoncello and harp

Duration: 6' ca Kamermuziekversie van deel VIII: In Paradisum van het Utrechts Requiem 2018
Tekst: Herman van Tongerloo

2018b Utrechts Requiem: In Paradisum

Choir SATB, clarinet, bassoon, horn, string quintet, harp, timpani

Duration: 6' ca Part VIII of the 'Utrechts Requiem 2018' for the NEON Choir & Ensemble Insomnio
Text: Herman van Tongerloo

2017b Utrechts Requiem: Sanctus

Choir SATB, clarinet, bassoon, horn, string quintet, harp, timpani (and optional children's voices in soprano range)

Duration: 5'35 Part I of the 'Utrecht Requiem 2017', for the Dutch Chamber Choir and Ensemble Insomnio
Text: Herman van Tongerloo / trad. Gregorian

2017a Utrecht Requiem: Introïtus

Choir SATB, clarinet, bassoon, horn, string quintet, harp, timpani (and optional children's voices in soprano range)

Duration: 6'30 Part I of the 'Utrecht Requiem 2017', for the Dutch Chamber Choir and Ensemble Insomnio
Text: Herman van Tongerloo / trad.

2012c Deep River Dancing

String orchestra, marimba & percussion

Duration: 4' Based on different versions of Deep River, the well know 'Negro spiritual', written for the Fusion String Ensemble Fuse

2002a Concerto Grosso

small string orchestra

Duration: 15' Commissioned by the Constantijn Youth String Orchestra, cond. Roeland Robert.

1999c Utrecht Mirror of Saints / Utrechtse Heiligenspiegel

(double) mixed choir, children's choir and chamber orchestra/ string quartet; parts arranged for carillon, brass quartet and percussion
Movements: see program note

Duration: 60' For the Monteverdi Chamber Choir, Cathedral Youth Choir, Choir of the Dom Cathedral, commissioned by Cittá della Musica, 1st perf. Utrecht, Jacobi Church
Text: Andries Govaart

1998b O Nederlanden

solo voices SSATB, recorder (also gamba), cyther (also percussion), percussion (also gamba), 5 winds, (zinc, pommer, cornetto, 2 trombones) Movements: see program note

Duration: 15' Performed during the national celebration of the Munster Treaty (1648) 1998 in de Ridderzaal in The Hague, by Camerata Trajectina and Ensemble Oltremontano. Commissioned by the Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal
tekst: anoniem 17e eeuw

1994b Bye Day, Bye Night

children's choir and piano (or small orchestra)

Duration: 15' For Children's Choir De Kickers, 1st perf. Purmerend, commissioned by the Educational Service of the Province Noord-Holland
Text: Mariëlle van Kilsdonk

1993-94 The Darling Buds of May

symf. orch. 2222 2as 211 perc, stringorchestra

Duration: 7' For the Riciotti Ensemble, supported by the Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst

1992e Short story from a no man's land

flute, horn, saxes AAT, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, piano, doublebass

Duration: 12' For De Volharding (supported by the Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst), 1st perf. Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

1985a First Things First

Dance opera: three dansers, three singers, three electrical guitarists, three percussionists

Duration: 70' 1st perf.: Amsterdam, Shaffy Theater, Company
Choreography: Marjolein van Nieuwkerk
Text by the composer

1984a Oh-song

flute, saxes SAT, 2 trumpets, horn, 2 trombones, piano, double bass

Duration: 3' 1st perf. Leiden, 1984 (Orchestra De Onderste Steen)

1980-82 Debris, Soli

5 singers (SAATB), 2 clarinets, trumpet, horn, trombone, 2 electric guitars, bassguitar, 2 percussion

Duration: 60' Text: Diop, Okigbo, Ginsburg, Plath, Cummings

1976 A Dream of War

Voices and variable ensemble

Duration: 10' 1st perf. University of Utrecht

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.