Yesterday during the concert in Luxemburg we played Sweelinck again

Yesterday during the concert in Luxemburg we played Sweelinck again. I just love that piece, the chromatic fantasy, originally for keyboard. Bass arranged. But I must admit, I was very tired (see below!). Although we played a good concert (it was a concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the BeNeLux parliament in Luxemburg) I forget to enter in my part. I missed the first note. I was dreaming away. I wasn't especially nervous, although the Grand Duke was in the hall (we had to play the Luxemburg Wilherlmus when he entered, along with the anthems of the BeNeLux contries, and the European anthem (being the famous Beethoven mvt, I did not know that!). But I did miss that note. I had a minor black out and I was too tired to worry about that. I guess that was good, because after that I played ok. I felt good and the notes came out like they should. It was strange to play a normal concert again. We have been doing Dogtroep performances for a long time now (well, two weeks...) and yesterday it was all about us again!

We came back from Luxemburg last night at 400 in the morning. Woke up quite late today. Tonight last Dogtroep show, then tomorrow the last 4tet concert of the season in the Hague (Festival Classique). We'll play Glazounow, Vrolijk and Sweelinck. We have a small rehearsal right before the show tonight.
I'll be glad when the season ends, although I have some concerts in Chili in the middle of my holidays.

The Thuiskopiefonds decides to support Ties Mellema's newest CD project: 'Roots' with new works by Wijnand Van Klaveren and Martin Fondse, and older work by Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Van Klaveren) and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Earlier the Maurits Van Kattendijke Stichting also decided to support this project. The presentation of the CD will be on December 30th 2007 in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (Serie Sundaymorning Concerts).

Monday today

Monday today. Doing dishes and almost off to Wijnand's. I overslept today. Always back late from Dogtroep performances. My parents were there yesterday and they liked it a lot.
It's very busy now. I really have to find some time to do my own things. Yesterday I went biking with Dickie for a couple of hours. That was fun. I need some time to do these things. I cannot plan my whole life ahead!

The Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds decided to support Ties Mellema's new saxophone out of the Henny de Vries Fonds for Cultural scholarships. The presentation of the scholarship will be on June 28th on 16:00 at Podium Mozaiek in Amsterdam.

First week of Dogtroep performances

First week of Dogtroep performances. One week to go. It's great fun. Hard work though. Hardly any time to work by myself. Yesterday we played a special performance for the Dutch queen. She opened the new theater in Almere where we're playing with Dogtroep.
Yesterday the second half of the show was cancelled because of lightning danger.

This past week I had to turn down some applicants for the conservatori...

This past week I had to turn down some applicants for the conservatories I am teaching at. Some of them I have been teaching in the preparation year, so I have a connection with them. I didn't accept them last year for the first year because the committee was not sure if they had the skills to get ready for endexam in four years. It was very hard to do but some of them did not develop well enough in the past year. I had a good relation with them, but in some cases I had to keep saying the same things over and over again. It might be the chemistry between teacher and student. Maybe my words did not come over clear enough for some reason. I don't know. But in the end the commission can decide that there was enough development in the last year. It happens. The music world is hard, but in these cases also fair. It is not to say that they have no future in music. This year was just not the best year. Maybe a bump in the way can help their ideas cristallize more.

Blog time

Blog time! We just played at the award ceremony for the Mees Pierson Award. We did not win. This prize is handed to one concert of the three Young Dutchmen Concerts in the Concertgebouw. Each concert is a half recital for a Dutch musician or an ensemble. Wijnand and me shared this concert the Amstel Quartet (in which I am the baritone player). We played a programme with some risks involved. With Wijnand we played a piece by Louis Van Dijk, which is very typical for his music and for us it was a tribute. Unfortunately the jury did not appreciate this work. They said our talent is not supported by this piece. Which can be true in some way but I love this work and the man who wrote it... It is something we need to play! Also they said there are beter compositions for saxophone than Wijnand Poulenc's tribute. I do not agree again, in that sense that Wijnand's music is music that should be heard and played. It is great music, genius, filled with melodies and harmonies that come out of his heart. It is worth playing! Also they commented on my AZIZ shirt.... What can you do :-) One jury member said that I should be aware that it is not what the people expect. After the break they said that Amstel Quartet draws young audience which is good and that could be one of our roles in chamber music. Also there were some doubts about our arrangements.... Why did we not play more modern music? Well, because we don;t feel the need. There's a lot of music to discover, even for saxophone. Luckily Roland Kieft stood up for us and said that maybe it might seem that nothing is sacred to us, but in the end, he said that all music is sacred to us because of the way we handle it.
So there was a lot to discuss, which is always good.
Oh, and Lavinia and Tjeerd won, what a great musicians, BRAVO and congrats!