Biography Ig Henneman
Composer/improviser
Ig Henneman (Haarlem, 21 December 1945) starts out studying the piano at the conservatory, but switches to violin, and eventually chooses viola as her main instrument. Having started her career as a classical musician in various orchestras and the ASKO ensemble, she co-founds the women’s pop band FC Gerania. Her interest in improvisation increases as she joins trumpeter-pianist-composer Nedly Elstak’s groups. Subsequently she starts leading her own groups, like a quintet, a tentet, a string quartet and a sextet. For these ensembles she writes all of the compositions. With all groups she tours extensively in the Netherlands and abroad. She runs her own record label Wig with reed player Ab Baars, with whom she also has a long running duo. She is part of the Queen Mab Trio and various ad hoc improvising groups. In addition to her work as a band leader-improviser Henneman has an international career as a composer of contemporary music. She receives composition commissions for soloists, as well as for orchestras and ensembles. Donemus has been publishing this music since 1987.
1950 – 1984
At the age of five, Ig Henneman starts taking piano lessons, and from the age of eleven she is also taught to play the violin. In 1963 she enrols at the conservatory, taking piano as her major. After two years she switches to violin, and ends up with the viola. She works as a freelancer with various orchestras, plays contemporary music with the ASKO, and in 1977 she is one of the founders of the women’s pop band FC Gerania, which releases two LPs on its own label, featuring Henneman’s first original compositions. In 1982 trumpeter-pianist-composer Nedly Elstak involves her in his groups Several Singers and a Horn and The Paradise Regained Orchestra. It is her first encounter with improvised music and the start of a lifelong love-affair with it. Between 1982 and 1993 she writes a number of film soundtracks for short feature films and documentaries, including Het Zeeuwse Licht and Danswoede. In 1985 she receives a major commission to compose a soundtrack for the Russian silent film The Women of Ryazan (1927) by director Olga Preobrazhenskaya. The film is re-released in 2019 and shown at the Eye International Conference for Silent Movies.
1985 – 1993
Ig Henneman forms her first group as a leader, the Ig Henneman Quintet: two reed players (Bart van der Putten and Hein Pijnenburg), viola, double bass (Wilbert de Joode) and drums (Fred van Duynhoven). She writes all of the music herself, and releases the band’s debut album, In Grassetto (Wig 01, 1991), as the first release on her own label Wig. In the meantime she regularly receives commissions for compositions. In order to hone her composition skills, she turns to Robert Heppener for coaching in 1988. In the same year she writes the music for a production by puppeteer Damiet van Dalsum, Kleur. Two more productions are to follow.
Ig Henneman follows the International Dance Course for Professional Choreographers and Composers at the University of Surrey in Guildford (UK). In 1989 she composes Le Tigri di Mare for the Ricciotti Ensemble. In 1991 the artistic director of the Amsterdam Bimhuis, Huub van Riel, invites her to take part in the October Meeting, an international meeting of improvisers. In the same year she composes Si Tira Avanti for accordeon solo for Miny Dekkers, commissioned by the Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst (Dutch Creative Music Fund). At the initiative of the American trombonist Abbie Conant, Henneman receives a commission from the 21st International Trombone Workshop in Detmold, Germany, in 1992. This results in How Slow the Wind for eight trombones. The composition is still regularly performed by the Rotterdam Conservatory’s trombone choir.
1993 – 1995
As a follow-up to the quintet she starts a larger group, the Ig Henneman Tentet. The first project she undertakes with this ensemble is a cycle of compositions based on the works of the American poet Emily Dickinson. The CD recording is released as the second catalogue number for the Wig label. In 1995 Een Nachtegaal Tijdens de Slaap, based on poems about birds, is the band’s second project (CD Repeat that, Repeat, Wig 03). In 1994 Ig Henneman assembles the improvising Henneman String Quartet in addition to the tentet. She doesn’t opt for the classical line-up, but for violin/viola (Mary Oliver, later replaced by Oene van Geel), viola (Henneman herself), cello (Tristan Honsinger, succeeded by Alex Waterman) and double bass (Wilbert de Joode). This results in darker timbres, which she fully exploits in her compositions for the group. Conductor Ed Spanjaard compiles a programme for the Nederlandse Muziekdagen (Dutch Music Festival) with compositions by Robert Heppener and some of his students. For this festival Ig Henneman writes the composition Righe per Corde (harp, two violas and cello) for the Ensemble Amadé. In 1994 Hinter der Wand, commissioned by Trio Le Cheval, is first performed. It is based on poems by Ingeborg Bachmann and written for mezzo-soprano (Marjanne Kweksilber), accordion (Miny Dekkers) and cello (Taco Kooistra).Â
1996 -1998
The NPS broadcasting company commissions her to write Swiet Viele, for the Metropole Orchestra, a symphonic jazz orchestra, to be performed at the Nederlandse Muziekdagen. With the Henneman String Quartet she performs the programme Westwerk. The thematic starting point is the music and architecture of the Middle Ages. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment commissions her to write the works Lichtschuw and Indigo for the Ig Henneman Tentet, based on poetry by three generations of Dutch poetesses, on the occasion of the conference 100 jaar Vrouwenarbeid (100 years of Women’s Labour). A year later Indigo is released on CD (Wig 04, 1998). The Haarlem International Organ Improvisation Competition asks Ig Henneman to write a theme for the 42nd competition, for the participants to improvise on in the second round. In 2008 she receives a second commission to write a theme for the competition, this time for the finals.
1999 – 2001
The Henneman String Quartet releases its first album Pes (Wig 05) and tours Canada and Austria. Two years later there is a tour of the Netherlands and Italy, in which the group performs a special program inspired by Italian music. In 2000 Henneman composes Disegni per Corde e Marimba for the Nieuw Ensemble and Persistente for Orkest De Volharding. The Italian Instabile Orchestra commissions Sulla Lingua for big band (2001) from her.
2002 – 2004
Henneman joins the Canadian duo Queen Mab, consisting of (bass) clarinettist Lori Freedman and pianist Marilyn Lerner. The group is renamed Queen Mab Trio, and tours North America. In 2005 Wig releases the trio’s debut album, See Saw (Wig 11). The Henneman String Quartet releases its second album: Piazza Pia (Wig 07, 2002).
Henneman, Henneman & De Swaan is the title of a multi-media concert programme, made with her brother, the visual artist Jeroen Henneman, and filmmaker Carrie de Swaan. The music Ig Henneman writes for the project is performed by the Henneman String Quartet augmented by harpist Godelieve Schrama, for whom she also composes the harp solo Tratti per Arpa. The project is released on both DVD and CD (Wig 10). In 2004 the Henneman String Quartet performs at the ± 4 Festival voor Nieuwe Muziek by Intro/in situ Maastricht. The festival also commissions her to compose Finalmente for 4 trombones, 4 strings and 4 percussion.
2005 -2007
With reed player Ab Baars she has been performing as the Duo Baars-Henneman since 1999. The twosome undertakes a European tour in 2006, and subsequently travels to Japan for a series of concerts. They release the album Stof (Wig 13). Ig Henneman composes Bow Valley Whistle, for flute and soundscape, for flutist Anne La Berge. For the new Clazz Ensemble, led by saxophonist Dick de Graaf and trumpeter Gerard Kleijn, which combines contemporary classical music with jazz improvisation, Ig Henneman writes the composition Twirl. For percussionist Wim Konink she composes the marimba solo Molot, which is later also performed by Tatiana Koleva and Fredrike de Winter. In 2006 a second album by the Queen Mab Trio sees the light: Thin Air (Wig 14), after a year of extensive touring in the USA, Canada and Europe. In between tours, Henneman is artist in residence at the Canadian Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where she works on Vóga Lunga and Traghettatore for guitar, mandolin and recorder (Zimbello). She will later return to the Banff Centre a number times to compose.
2008-2009
The Duo Baars-Henneman tours the USA and Canada and takes up residence at the Banff Centre. Together with pianist Misha Mengelberg, Henneman and Baars record the CD Sliptong (Wig 16) at the Bimhuis. The title refers to the meal the three had prior to the recording session (sliptong is the Dutch name for small sole). Henneman and Baars also start the new trio Floating Worlds with the Japanese koto player Michiyo Yagi, exploring the borders of Western and Japanese music. The trio tours throughout Europe and Japan.
2010 – 2011
Celebrating her 25th anniversary as a bandleader as well as her 65th birthday, Ig Henneman releases a box-set, Ig Henneman Collected (Wig 18) with five CDs and a DVD. The repertoire contains three complete albums, a compilation of her work with the Queen Mab Trio, Galina U, and a CD plus DVD of the project Henneman, Henneman & De Swaan. The booklet accompanying the set contains a tekst by Mischa Andriessen (‘Performing Colours’) and an interview by Anne La Berge: ‘Ig Henneman and her Choices’. The violist also assembles her new Ig Henneman Sextet for a European tour, performing her new series of compositions: Kindred Spirits. The line-up consists of regular musical improvising partners Ab Baars, Lori Freedman, Marilyn Lerner and Wilbert de Joode plus the German trumpeter Axel Dörner. In 2011 a first CD by the ensemble is released: Cut a Caper (Wig 19). Also as part of the celebration, Ig Henneman composes Chant for violin and piano, which premieres at the last concert of the tour, during her Carte Blanche at the Bimhuis by violinist Heleen Hulst and pianist Gerard Bouwhuis. Reinbert de Leeuw here performs Galina Ustvolskaya’s 5th piano sonata at Henneman’s request, and the guitarists Terrie Hessels and Andy Moor are featured as guests with the Ig Henneman Sextet.
2012-2014
The Ig Henneman Sextet tours Canada. The concert at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival is recorded and released on CD as Live at the Ironworks (Wig 21). The Duo Baars-Henneman completes successful tours through the USA, Europe and Iceland and releases their second album with original music Autumn Songs (Wig 22).
Ig Henneman composes a number of new works, including Riassunto, a bass clarinet solo written for Fie Schouten and premiered at the Basklarinet Festijn in the Netherlands. Four Dances for harp and marimba is premiered in Iceland by Duo Harpverk. Both of these pieces are performed at the Nicolaikerk Utrecht when Henneman is asked to curate a programme for the festival Nieuwe Muziek in de Klaas, where it is performed by Godelieve Schrama (harp), Fredrike de Winter (percussion) and Guus Janssen (organ). She composes In the Storm of Roses, a solo violin piece with improvised parts, inspired by the poem of the same name by Ingeborg Bachmann and written for the German violinist Ayumi Paul and Dutch violinist Diamanda La Berge Dramm. The Vancouver based Now Society commissions Ig Henneman to compose Translucent Layers for Orkestra Futura. Henneman and Baars form a new quartet with two New York musicians, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and drummer Tom Rainey: Perch Hen Brock & Rain. The freely improvising quartet tours Europe during the autumn of 2014. A concert in Budapest is filmed (and later broadcast) by Hungarian television.
2015 – 2017
Solo Song for Violin – In the Storm of Roses earns Ig Henneman a nomination for the prestigious Matthijs Vermeulenprijs and receives its American premiere on 28 March, performed by Erica Dicker. Solo Song for Viola – Ten Lines also leaves room for improvisation. Elisabeth Smalt performs it for the first time at the Eindhoven Van Abbemuseum on 31 May. On 25 September Shapes Lines and Layers for the David Kweksilber Big Band is premiered at the Bimhuis. The Duo Baars-Henneman collaborates with poet Anneke Brassinga during her farewell evening at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele after Brassinga’s year of residence for the DAAD, the Berlin arts programme. Their collaboration is continued in The Hague at the award ceremony for the PC Hooftprijs (the major Dutch literary award) for the poet. In 2016 the Wig label celebrates its 25th anniversary. On this occasion Baars and Henneman invite the iconic American jazz pianist Dave Burrell for a trio concert at the Bimhuis, which is also recorded. The recording is later released as Trandans (Wig 25, 2017). The New York label Relative Pitch Records releases a first album by Perch Hen Brock & Rain: Live@ The Tampere Jazz Happening (RPR 1051), a registration by Finnish radio from 2014. A year earlier the quartet performs at the Rotterdam North Sea Jazz Festival. The Duo Baars-Henneman tours the Netherlands, Poland and Germany with a new programme, Canzoni di Primavera. The duo is also featured at November Music – international festival for new music in Den Bosch, where Henneman’s Solo Songs for Instruments are also performed, including two premieres: Solo Song for Bass Clarinet/Clarinet – The Motion Caused (2016), played by Anna voor de Wind, and Solo Song for Bassoon – Hardwood Floorboards (2016) performed by the American bassoonist Dana Jessen. Ab Baars (shakuhachi, clarinet) and Ig Henneman perform as a duo. The Basklarinet Festijn 2016 commissions Henneman to write Feather-Light Monkeys for three bass clarinets. Fie Schouten, Marij van Gorkom and Laura Carmichael perform the premiere. In 2017 Ig Henneman tours Italy with the Duo Baars-Henneman and Canada with Perch Hen Brock & Rain
2018- 2021
The Duo Baars-Henneman programme Canzoni di Primavera is released on CD (Wig 28). The Queen Mab Trio also produces a new album: Réunion on the Montréal label Mikroclimat (MKR 102). Perch Hen Brock & Rain records a new album (after a performance at the Groningen SummerJazzCycleTour). Ig Henneman writes a new work in her series Solo Songs for Instruments for cellist Lidy Blijdorp: Solo Song for Cello – As If. In November 2020 the Wig label releases recordings of her five Solo Songs for Instruments (Wig 31), with liner notes by Bas van Putten. Henneman records with New York trumpeter Jamie Branch and flutist Anne La Berge. The album is released by Relative Pitch Records: Dropping Stuff and Other Folk Songs (RPR 1094). The Berlin label Evil Rabbit Records releases an album by a new quartet, featuring Ig Henneman, Ab Baars, viol(in)ist George Dumitriu and cellist Pau Sola Masafrets, entitled Aforismen Aforisme Aforismes (ERR 32, December 2020). In November 2020 the Amsterdam Orgelpark venue devotes a special Composer’s Portrait to Ig Henneman, on the occasion of her 75th birthday. For this, she writes a new work for organ, February’s Turn, to be performed by Gerrie Meijers at the Orgelpark’s Verschueren organ. She also composes a new string quartet: Outside the Rain Has Stopped for the Luna String Quartet. Some earlier works will also be performed at the event and there will be some improvisations, too. Because of the COVID pandemic the event has been postponed until September 2021. After the concert Ig Henneman is appointed as Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau for her ‘great contribution to contemporary and improvised music’. The honour is presented to her by alderman and deputy mayor of Amsterdam, Touria Meliani. In October Ig Henneman and Ab Baars are two of the curators of the Catalytic Sound Festival, which takes place in Rotterdam (Worm), Haarlem (De Pletterij) and Amsterdam (Bimhuis).
2022 – 2024
In January 2022 Catalytic Sound presents a members only release of a recording of a spontaneous trio session by Ig Henneman, Ab Baars and pianist Marta Warelis, entitled O Hushed October. In the meantime the release has also become available to non-members, as catalogue number CAA-040. In March 2022 Ig Henneman and Ab Baars are artists in residence at KNOCKvologan on the Scottish Isle of Mull. One month later two new compositions by Henneman are premiered. First, there is Diep bloost de zee, written for Orkest De Ereprijs. The piece, with a text by Ben Zwaal, is dedicated to Louis Andriessen. Next is Beweis zu nichts, a reworking of her composition Hinter der Wand, with poems by Ingeborg Bachmann (from 1994). Soprano Bauwien van der Meer and an ensemble of organ, harp and a string quartet perform the premiere on 30 April at TivoliVredenburg. Performances at the Orgelpark, the Willibrord Church (Utrecht), the Lutheran Church in Groningen and the Haarlem Philharmonie (as part of the International Organ Festival Haarlem) follow soon after. Recordings made at Composer’s Portrait in September 2021 are released on CD, entitled Outside the Rain Has Stopped (Wig 32). A video registration of the event is published, too. Elegiacal is the title of the new album by Perch Hen Brock & Rain, which is released on the Wig label in February. In March 2023 Baars and Henneman invite the American cornetist Kirk Knuffke as a guest with their duo. In November Henneman organizes a series of concerts with New York violinist Gaby Fluke-Mogul, both as a duo and with guests. The festival November Music 2023 presents a performance of Outside the Rain Has Stopped by the Luna String Quartet. The composition is also selected as the Dutch contribution to the ISCM World New Music Days Festival 2024. This takes place at the Faroe Islands in June, where the work is performed by the Aldubáran String Quartet. In December Henneman takes part in the Catalytic Sound Festival in Nijmegen (Doornroosje) and Amsterdam (Paradiso). In June 2024 the Baars Henneman duo performs at the Summartónar Festival on the Faroe Islands.