On 1 July 2021, Louis Andriessen, one of the greatest composers of the Netherlands, died. Ensemble I SOLISTI pays tribute to the master. He had a hard-to-overestimate influence on the international music scene, not only with his own work, but also as an academic teacher. The programme includes music by Andriessen himself, but also by Martijn Padding – student, colleague, and above all bosom friend of Andriessen. He composed a work for the same ensemble as once De Volharding, the ensemble with which both Andriessen and Padding were very familiar. This creates a multi-layered picture of the man who would have turned 85 this year.

Andriessen’s activist Workers Union (1975) has lost none of its power: its pounding rhythms seem to be harping on the miserable working conditions in factories. More free but no less urgent is M is for Man, Mozart, Music (1991), written as a tribute to Mozart on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death. Andriessen’s music is propelled by banks of saxophones and brass. The accompanying film by Peter Greenaway, with whom Andriessen also made the operas Rosa and Writing to Vermeer, is a hilarious postmodern collage.

Program

19:15 / Foyerdeck 1 / Pre-concert talk
Pre-concert talk by Thea Derks

20:15 / Grote Zaal / Main programme
Louis Andriessen Calls voor 2 hoorns from Andriessen (outside)
Martijn Padding Huil van de Wolf from Padding (outside)
Louis Andriessen Workers Union
Martijn Padding Two trumpets descending *
Louis Andriessen M is for Man, Mozart, Music van Andriessen with film from Peter Greenaway