Yesterday I went to a concert in the Teresa Carrenho in Caracas

Yesterday I went to a concert in the Teresa Carrenho in Caracas. The Municipal Orchestra played and they played well. They played the marvellous Daphnis and Chloe suite by Ravel, which Rodolfo Saglimbeni conducted by heart!
But... the concert turned out to have a policital part; after the first piece (Mendelsohn Concerto for violin, played by Maurice Hasson, incredible!) there were several speeches, a videoshow and a formal part to inaugurate the new stamps to celebrate the 25 years existence of the orchestra. The stamps are very nice but half of the audience left and the ones that didn't showed their disconfort with the ceremony very clearly. It was quite an experience!

Second day in Caracas

Second day in Caracas. All's well and relaxing. Just had a shave and a haircut, which was nice!
Tonight or tomorrow we might go see a concert. Tomorrow is the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, lead by Gustavo Dudamel. I played a solo concerto by Jacob ter Veldhuis with them some months with them. They are fantastic!
This morning Ailed danced one of her solos in the beautiful Teatro Municipal in the old colonial centre. A beautiful theater and a beautiful solo. It's a shame the old centre is not such a good neighbourhood.

The pain in my shoulder has almost disppeared

The pain in my shoulder has almost disppeared! I am studying again and just had rehearsal with Wijnand for the Vondelpark Concert again. We had lots of fun putting this programme together.
Tomorrow will be a busy day, I will have to go to Kerkrade to rehearse for the premier of a saxophone concerto by Alexander Comitas. We will perform it at the WMC. The day after we will play the concert (wednesday 20 July). If you want to check it out: it's in the Rodahal in Kerkrade, during the WMC. I will be accompanied by the NJFO (National Youth Fanfare Orchestra, conducted by Danny Oosterman, www.njbe.nl).
Today I called with active 24, my website will be online sometime tomorrow. I hope so!

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Just had a rehearsal with my good friend Wijnand (piano). We rehearsed a new piece in our repertory: 'Burjazzque' by Louis van Dijk, in a version for soprano saxophone and piano. What a wonderful music! Louis van Dijk is not so well know as a composer but this piece shows he should be. We'll play it in the Vondelpark Open Lucht Theater in Amsterdam on July 21st at 21:00, for those who want to hear it. We will also play music by Michael Nyman, Bach, Demersseman, Wiedoeft, ter Veldhuis and Matitia. The wheather forecast is not too good though, according to the KNMI, but they have proven they can be wrong, I hope that they will be again!

Still lots of pain and eating pain killers, which work ok, but it's still there.
Tomorrow is Sunday and I think I won't be able at the soccer competition in the Amsterdamse Bos, but I will cheer!

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Today I woke up with an incredible pain in my shoulder. I wanted to study sax but now I have to wait for the pain to go away... Well, a forced 'holiday', I can do some reading, listening to music. I am listening to Michel Camilo and Tomatito right now. Great album! What a shame I missed them at the North Sea Jazz Festival.
For some reason my website is offline now, and I have no idea why. The Active24 helpdesk is only available on weekdays so I'll have to wait to find out. Very strange...

Friday, July 15, 2005

Electronic Music

Yesterday I went to Paradiso to see and hear a festival with electronic music, a crossover between dance music and 'art' music. It was quite interesting, but hard to listen to. Intuitively I am not drawn towards electronic music and I have to go through some effort to listen to it but it's a challenge to get to know this music and to learn to appreciate it.

Ties Mellema will record his new solo CD on November 17th and 18th 2005. Works by Ter Veldhuis, Turnage, Lauba and Glass. Release is planned for spring 2006.

NEW: The AMM Electro Acoustic Sessions PODCAST: copy/paste this link into your podgrabber/iTunes (download iTunes here): http://feeds.feedburner.com/AMMelectro

Vrij Nederland, a national opinion magazine, writes about the CD "DUOS for Saxophone and Piano": "a wonderful CD", "Lots of virtuosity and flexibilty". (obtainable throug the webshop, Amstel Records)

Recent Amstel Saxophone Quartet prizes: Second prize at the 34th Gaudeamus Interpreters competition; The adult jury and youth jury first prizes at the 14th International Chamber Music Competition in France, Illzach on 13 March 2003