Thursday, March 23, 2006 Thursdaymorning today, my sister's birthday w...

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Thursdaymorning today, my sister's birthday which we will celebrate tonight in Manzano, a Spanish restaurant on the Rozengracht.
Wilders wants to take the anti discrimination article of our constitution and replace it by an article that confirms the Christian humanistic and Jewish dominance in our society. He wants 'us' t o be proud of our country again... My God... I can hardly belive this shit...
I am aranging a prelude and fugue by Bach for saxophone quartet, this time in major, we have too many minor pieces already and this seems to work... It's a lot of work though, 10 minutes of music.
This week Residentie Orchestra with Blood on the Floor by Turnage, very good music and excellend soloists: Peter Erskine, Jesse van Ruller and David Kweksilber.
In August I will be a soloist with the New Cool Collective, and I might just play a solo version of Grab It XXL. I'll keep everyone inofrmed, it will be exciting!

Monday, March 13, 2006

yet another entry!
Yesterday we finally booked our trip to the US. We won't start in Atlanta and travel to LA in 22 days. That was too much we found out :-) We'll start in Denver and travel in a circle to Utah and California. We'll go to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Frisco, La, vinyards and everything that we'll encounter in the mean time.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

that was a long time ago. A lot has happened. I've been in NY with my quartet and things went well. We participated in the Concert Artists Guild Competition and we were winners of the CAG Comp. 2006! We also won the audience prize. The prize includes at least two years management in the US. We will make our debute in Carnegy Hall, NY next season. From 2007-2008 we will make some tours through the States every year like three. Really exciting.

NY was great too. Next to Amsterdam the greatest city in the world! We heard some exciting jazz concerts and walked around ther city. The best part of the city is Greenwich Village. The most European part of the town. Very young and cosy, lots of retstaurants and good athmosphere.

Ties Mellema is profoessor of Saxophone at the Artez Conservatory. Open lessons on March 16th at 14:30 in Arnhem. Auditions are May 29th.

Monday, February 13, 2006 Blog: In the train to Arnhem, on my way to m...

Monday, February 13, 2006

Blog:

In the train to Arnhem, on my way to my new job. Sounds funny, that I've got a job. Until August I am hoofvakdocent (professor of saxophone) saxofoon at the Artez Conservatory in Arnhem. I am substituting for a sick teacher. I've always been dependent on free-lance income and starters subsidy for artists. This job is a lot of fun. There are not many students but they work hard in general. I have to get used to them and to the teaching in general. And of course they have to get used to me :-)

Today I read more about the cartoon thing. Ridiculous shit going on, excusez le mot! I almost can't believe it, it's to surreal. And it's actually happening. This morning someone said on TV that this wasn't about religion. I guess it would be about politics then?

If you have time: go check out Niels' concert in Hengelo in the Waterstaatskerk on February 17th. Niels is my good friend and colleague. A master saxophonist in every sense of the word. He will play a very interesting programme on the tenor saxophone, his favorite saxophone, and the most lyrical of all saxophones. I think he's right in that. The tenor is one of my favorites also. Maybe the most favorite. The tenor has something so typical and so seducing, almost erotic. Take the Bolero solo for example! The soprano exactly the same notes but they sound so much sexier on the tenor!

11 Feb. Saturday
We played at the Nederlandse Muziekdagen yesterday. We played well I think. There were some reviewers. Let's see what and of they'll write on Monday. The hall was sold out, that was great.
We played Andriessen's Facing Death for the first time and we did quite ok. We need to plat it more. But there's a problem. The piece is a rental, and the costs are too high for us to pay them ourselves. I am going to try to talk to the publisher to see if we can arrange something. Also, I think it is very bad system, the result is that we won't play pieces that are rentals. Contemporary music is hard enough to program already! I am also writing an open letter to Dutch organizations to tell them what us going on.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Almost Nederlandse muziekdagen in Vredenburg. Exciting stuff. A very hard programme with de Man, Keuris, Andriessen and Germanus. We had a rehearsal with Andriessen in which he said some remarkable thing: he wanted us to play less loud and slower!

Go check it out if there are still tickets

The production of Ties Mellema's new CD 'Grab it' has begun. The sound of the saxophone has been mixed. The approach is a combination between a classical and pop recording style

On January 23rd Mellema gave his first concert in which he himself integrated live electronics in his playing with Eduardo Marturet's Canto Llano. Since 2004 he has formed a duo with electonic musician Ivo Bol. Who has created several pieces for them.

Programs 2006-2007 are online now: check out www.amsterdammm.nl.

Saturday, January 21, 2006 I can't believe it

Saturday, January 21, 2006

I can't believe it. The secretary of immigration (Verdonk) wants a behavioural code in the Netherlands that states a.o. that you should talk Dutch on the streets. Unbelievable....!
I am looking for a digital delay for a solo concert this monday. I might have found one. It's a great Venezuelan piece. This Monday in Zaal 100, Amsterdam Wittenkade. I will play ter Veldhuis, maybe Berio and the delay piece!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Tomorrow me and my 4tet are off to Luxemburg for a concert. We'll play Glazounow, Glass and Sweelinck. It's really great we're playing Glazounow again, I've had a bit too much contemporary music, and Glazounow is original music lyrical music for saxophone, and it's good stuff! It's great music. We've had a discussion whether this music is more 'sticky' or more 'fresh'. Although this quartet is Russian I feel it's not heavy and dramatic pur sang. The first phrase is very fresh, it opens the sky for the pastorale melody, at leat I feel it like this... Well, check out our concerts and judge yourself :-)

Sunday, January 08, 2006

It's Sunday today and I just got up. The holidays are over. My quartet (www.amstel4tet.nl) is rehearsing again. We're doing this very hard programma with works by Andriessen, Germanus, de Man and Keuris. And we're studying our asses off! Facing Death is a great piece but a reall piece de resistance.
I bought a piano last month, not a real one though, a Clavinova and I am actually studying a bit on it. Great stuff! The feel of a real piano is better but this is good enough for me. It's up in the attic where the wheather cannot be trusted and this one I don't have to tune.
Also I am studying Mendelsshon cello sonata with Wijnand. I am even thinking about making a short CD with one or two pieces: the cello sonata and maybe a contemporary comment on it... I have to think about it...

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Best wishes everyone!
I got some mails from people who missed me in the second half of December on my blog. I am sorry for that...
I will try to post more regularly now.
What happened that is noteworthy. I joined in for a Magpie Music Dance Company Workshop and hhad great fun. I did it together with Ailed. he workshop was about improvising (or rather instant composing) for dancers and musicians. I learned a lot and want to learn more about this.
Other than that I am studying for quartet gigs, we have some importnt and very hard stuff coming up, oa Andriessen, de Man and Germanus quartet for the Nederlandse Muziekdagen on Feb 12 in Vredenburg. A great oppurtunity but lots of work.