Composing is an absolute necessity for a Dutch composer, pianist, author, visual artist, model and art historian Sarah Neutkens (24). On this evening in TivoliVredenburg, she and the Alma Quartet – consisting of members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra – will present her latest album ‘What is Sarah Neutkens thinking?’

‘There are feelings and thoughts in life that you can’t put into words, they come out to me through the music,’ says Sarah. The ideas come, the music presents itself in her head and has to get out. It is inevitable, even if it is often difficult. You can’t time that urge. Whether you are on the road or had other plans that day: first the notes have to be on paper and until that is done there is nothing else.

“Feel those boned, subdued sounds. Feel the emotion, the sadness, feel the chaos, the loneliness and hope. Maybe you don’t like it, maybe it gets deep under your skin, but whatever you feel about it: this is exactly what Sarah wanted to say. This is what was in her head, in her heart. This is her story. Nothing more, nothing less.’ – From the liner notes of journalist Marcel Langedijk.

On her album and during the concert, Sarah herself plays her music on the piano. The Alma Quartet plays the string quartet Bright Edge Deep that Sarah composed. ‘It was a pleasure to work with Sarah. We were given every freedom to bring to life the music she has put on paper,’ says Marc Daniel van Biemen, the primarius of the quartet.