The concert will be performed live on the LOOS YouTube Channel on the 11th of December at 20:45.
“The history of a soldier”
Femke van den Bergh (clarinet), Ruth Mareen (violin), and Joel Gester Juaréz (piano) present a mix of new works by composers from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, and 'The Soldiers Tale' for clarinet trio by Stravinsky. Originally composed for a program in May that didn't go through. Now they bring the premiere of these pieces to LOOS, together with a new piece for solo bass clarinet.
Suite – The History of a Soldier
As the movements of 'The Soldiers Tale' relate to different parts of the story, the commissioned works written by Eva Beunk, Hidde Kramer, Tilen Lebar and Kasper De Oude are relating to the work of Stravinsky in a diverse way. Some of them are approaching l'histoire du soldat in a more general way and some of them relate to Stravinsky’s rhythmical style or even his harmonic language. by combining the original suite with the reflections, a rearranged suite is created, reflecting on the original work and putting it in a new context.
Total length: 30 minutes
New works included in the suite:
Stroom – by Eva Beunk
Two, One, Three, Four – by Kasper de Oude
Spiral – by Tilen Lebar
Indruk – by Hidde Kramer
Solo – Solétude:
A reflection on embracing solitude, and finding beauty when doing so.
This work by Hidde Kramer was commissioned by Femke van den Bergh, asking for a piece to reflect on the current situation. The work was inspired by a quote of Tarkovsky, urging to 'embrace solitude'.
Total length: 6 minutes
Background information, The Soldier's Tale:
L’Histoire du soldat, or The Soldier’s Tale, is in its original form a theatrical work for three actors, one or several dancers and a septet of musical instruments. This piece is the result of a collaboration between composer Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882-1971) and Swiss writer Charles Ferdinand Ramuz. It is based on the Russian folk tale The Runaway Soldier and the Devil drawn from the collection of Alexander Aftanasye.
The story tells about a musical soldier who is marching home. Since it has been such a long time, he is very much longing for his loved ones. However, during his journey there is an encounter with the devil who wishes to obtain the Soldier's violin at all costs. In exchange for his instrument he offers him a book containing the future of the economy. Initially the Soldier can outwit this evil creature, but eventually nobody can escape the Devil.
Hidde Kramer (NL)
"Hidde is a Composer & Music Producer.
His autonomous work right now focusses on resonance, sound fields, asymmetric symmetry, and explores visual thinking in music composition.
As a Composer/Producer of music for media, he seeks to find the perfect balance in serving the medium and incorporating the results of his artistic research in his autonomous works.
Next to his artistic work Hidde works in several technical disciplines, providing technical assistance for Studio LOOS, and working for the company Source Elements with Network Audio Technology. This technical knowledge can influence his work, workflows, and artistic process." www.hiddekramermusic.com
Femke van den Bergh
Femke van den Bergh is vierdejaars bachelor student aan het Koninklijk conservatorium te Den Haag. Zij volgt klarinetlessen bij Rick Huls en basklarinetlessen bij Erik van Deuren.
Eerder volgde zij lessen bij Celeste Zewald aan de Academie Muzikaal Talent te Utrecht. Klassiek klarinet of experimentele muziek, Aus Licht of kindervoorstellingen, Balkan of jazz, het is haar allemaal even lief. Zij is altijd in voor het ontdekken van nieuwe muzikale aspecten, waarbij de directe samenwerking met componisten een pluspunt is, om echt in het diepe te duiken en samen de grenzen van het instrument op te zoeken.
Ruth Mareen
Ruth Mareen has been studying with Theodora Geraets at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague since previous academic year. Before that she had obtained her bachelor degree with highest distinction at the LUCA School of Arts in Leuven with Elisa Kawaguti. Prior to her conservatory studies she worked intensively with Erik Sluys for two years. At the age of five Ruth started to play the violin. From that moment onwards her enthusiasm only grew. She participates in a lot of different orchestra projects, auditions and masterclasses. For instance, she has played and is playing productions with her violin-guitar duo RAAS, the LUCA quartet, Brussels Sinfonietta and the NJO (Nationaal Jeugd Orkest). Furthermore, she feels very comfortable in more than one genre. During her final year in Leuven she combined her classical studies with courses at the jazz department. There she had individual lessons with bass player Jos Machtel and ensemble with Dré Pallemaerts.
Eva Beunk
Eva Beunk (1999) is a Dutch composer, currently in the fourth year of her bachelor composition at the Royal conservatory. In many of her pieces she investigates different kind of interactions between the musicians and her as a composer, but also between the musicians and the audience. In all of her music Eva makes use of an external inspiration source, this could be a location, a painting, a concept or in this case a piece by Stravinsky. Eva’s appreciation for classical music started with Stravinsky’s Sacre du Prinstemps, therefore Stravinsky has a special place in her life. In ‘Stroom’ she decided to take 1 important motive from L’Histoire du Soldat as her material. As a result of the limited pitch-material, Stroom, above all, became an investigation into timing.
Kasper de Oude:
Kasper de Oude (1995) is a composer and educator from The Netherlands. He has an interest in teaching through music, generative music, and the combination of electronic and acoustic music. He studied Composition at The Hague conservatoire. He has done projects with different educational organisations like The European School and the School for Young Talent, both in The Hague.
Tilen Lebar
Tilen Lebar (b. 1993) is a Slovenian composer and a saxophonist based in The Hague the Netherlands. He is actively enrolled in the field of chamber music, as well as is premiering new works of young composers. Moreover, Tilen is actively participating in the field of improvised music scene and interdisciplinary arts and regulary cooperates with Zavod Sploh, KUD Mreza, Ensemble Szene Istrumental, CONA | institute for contemporary arts processing, Inexhaustible editions, and also presents his own individual projects with Ensemble Stere, which Tilen founded in 2017. His compositions are showing great knowledge of individual instrumental extended techniques as well as contemplated colors, detailed structures in sound tinctures, all of those expressing in his personal view in introverted musical approach. His collaborations included ensembles as Asamisimasa from Oslo, Experimental studio of SWR Freiburg and ensemble Oerknal among others. During his studies at University in Ljubljana he has been a recipient of a Golden scholarship by Municipality of Murska Sobota (Slovenia), scholarship by University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (Austria), Foundation PIF (Slovenia), Foundation Benko (Slovenia) and is currently a recipient of the scholarship by the Ministry of Culture Republic of Slovenia for his postgraduate studies at Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Since 2019 he is an active member of Society of Slovene Composers (DSS).
Joel Gester Suárez
Joel Gester Suárez was born in 1995 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the age of six, he moved to Madrid, where he grew up. He studied classical piano at the Adolfo Salazar Conservatory in that city with Eva Alcázar and completed his studies in 2015 with great awards. In 2019 he obtained the Bachelor Degree at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with professor David Kuyken. Currently, he is following the Master Program at Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag. Joel has performed in different concert halls in Spain and the Netherlands. He has received masterclasses and lessons from Washington García (Austin University), Lang Lang, Pascal Devoyon (Berlin Conservatory), Ramón Coll, Frank Peters, and Jan Wijn. He is a member of the Quinteto del Diablo, an ensemble featuring mainly music by Argentinian New Tango composer Astor Piazzolla. Since 2018, the Quintet has been collaborating with dancer Rosanna ter Steege and director Laura Suárez in the performance “The Devil on the Dance Floor”, presented at several venues during NJO Muziekzomer Festival 2019 in Gelderland, among other places. Currently, he is researching interdisciplinary works as part of his master degree. Together with Rosanna Ter Steege, he is preparing a collaboration with the intention to blur the boundaries between dance and music, and convey the urgency and threat posed by the climate crisis. He is also a composer. His pieces have been played by his Quintet in the above mentioned performance and in regular concerts. Lastly, he is a baritone and choir singer, and has participated in projects like Meesters & Gezellen 2020.