The requiem gives many composers headaches. A rock-solid tradition that has produced musical masterpieces. As usual, the Dutch composer and poet Micha Hamel gives it his own twist. In 2012, Hamel wrote a flaming musical argument against the severe cultural cutbacks of the government and minister Halbe Zijlstra. Hamel’s passionate music pamphlet bore the revealing title Requiem. His new composition The Requiem Pages is an adaptation of Requiem, which made a big impression during its premiere at the Holland Festival 2012.

With his Requiem, Hamel at the time intended to say goodbye to a civilizational ideal in which art and culture belong to the highest level. This farewell is embodied by a song cycle for soprano and piano. A new, more extensive arrangement, The Requiem Pages, will be played during November Music. The vocalist and pianist are surrounded by an ensemble of ten instruments. In a poetic way, Hamel makes a resounding, committed statement. Or as he himself puts it: ‘The piano is the coffin, the organ is God, and there is also an undertaker. Rather than the regular Latin lyrics, the lyrics are the last words of famous artists and thinkers, including Keats, Schubert, Dickinson, Stockhausen and Giordano Bruno. The work is a cross between a concert, a performance, a funeral ritual and a pamphlet.’

An extensive ensemble of f.c. Jongbloed, consisting of students from the AMPA study program in Tilburg, led by Aart Strootman, performs this special arrangement The Requiem Pages in the beautiful setting of the Grote Kerk.

In collaboration with AMPA Tilburg.