Question: what’s actually ‘new’ about this ‘New Church’ that is the location for the afternoon programme of Dag in the Branding? It dates from 1656! The ambiguity may make it the perfect location for a selection of young composers to shed new light on the concept of ‘innovation’ in music. Sometimes it seems like the only way to be taken seriously as a composer is to be an ‘innovator‘. But why? And how innovative can you be when everybody else is also busy innovating?

Guest curator Mathilde Wantenaar believes it is important that this festival also showcases work by kindred spirits and contemporaries who, like herself, choose not to be iconoclasts but rather to build on tradition. How necessary is innovation really – does every composer have to be as revolutionary as the likes of Monteverdi, Beethoven or Stravinsky?

The composers on the programme are Amarante Nat, Rick van Veldhuizen, Max van Platen, Tijmen van Tol, Jan-Peter de Graaff and Mathilde herself. None of their pieces were written more than a few years ago – so yes, they are literally new music.

Programme:

Amarante Nat – I listen to the ocean and all I hear is you
Mathilde Wantenaar  – Strijkkwartet nr 1 deel 2
Rick van Veldhuizen – Liederen voor mezzosopraan, altviool en cello
Max van Platen – Voor ik slaap
Max van Platen – Pianotrio
Tijmen van Tol – Pianokwintet
Jan-Peter de Graaff – 2 souvenirs voor mezzo-sopraan en piano