Joep Stapel selects Symphony No. 1 of Joey Roukens as the best concert of 2022

His output includes orchestral works, ensemble works, chamber music, solo instrumental works and an opera. In his music Roukens strives to move away from modernist ways of thinking in search for a more eclectic and more direct idiom, without reverting to some naive neo-style. In doing so, the composer doesn’t shy away from the use of triads, tonal or diatonic harmonies, a regular rhythmic pulse, directness of expression, simplicity, references to popular music and vernacular culture, ‘stealing’ from the musical heritage of the past and the odd trivial turn.

Joey Roukens was born in Schiedam, the Netherlands, in 1982. He studied composition with Klaas de Vries at the Rotterdam Conservatory and psychology at Leiden University. Roukens also studied piano privately with Ton Hartsuiker.

About my Symphony No. 1 ‘Kaleidoscopic’ When, as a boy of 11, 12, I fantasised about what it would be like if I became a composer later, I envisioned myself as a composer of symphonies – not as a composer of operas, or piano concertos or chamber music, no, symphonies I would write.

We congratulate Lucas & Arthur Jussen and Hannes Minnaar for winning the Dutch Edison Classical in the category Solo instrument and Chamber Music. They are great ambassadors for Dutch composers and such a reward is a well-deserved acknowledgement for their strong efforts.

The premiere of Dorian (14+) will take place at Dutch National Opera & Ballet on Thursday 11 May. Following the successes of Narnia and GRIMM, Dorian is the third joint production by choreographers Ernst Meisner (HNB) and Marco Gerris (ISH).

The premiere of Dorian (14+) will take place at Dutch National Opera & Ballet on Thursday 11 May. Following the successes of Narnia and GRIMM, Dorian is the third joint production by choreographers Ernst Meisner (HNB) and Marco Gerris (ISH).

The premiere of Dorian (14+) will take place at Dutch National Opera & Ballet on Thursday 11 May. Following the successes of Narnia and GRIMM, Dorian is the third joint production by choreographers Ernst Meisner (HNB) and Marco Gerris (ISH).

The premiere of Dorian (14+) will take place at Dutch National Opera & Ballet on Thursday 11 May. Following the successes of Narnia and GRIMM, Dorian is the third joint production by choreographers Ernst Meisner (HNB) and Marco Gerris (ISH).

The premiere of Dorian (14+) will take place at Dutch National Opera & Ballet on Thursday 11 May. Following the successes of Narnia and GRIMM, Dorian is the third joint production by choreographers Ernst Meisner (HNB) and Marco Gerris (ISH).

Celia Swart (1994, NL) is a new music composer, saxophone player and visual artist. Growing up playing saxophone and piano, she found her love for composing.

Education Michael has a degree in English Literature from the State University of New York. Despite having no formal music education, he has an active international career in several aspects of the music business.

"Creativity is an unconscious act of insanity, in a burst of which the truth is born. No matter how beautiful or disgusting it may seem to people far from madness, its value is beyond doubt, both for the author and for those able to sense its invisible beauty. After all, gratitude for endless trials and suffering brings joy and blissful emptiness… Being shocked by music is about pain turning into beauty and getting under your skin, taking away your breath; about everything stopping to move. I want to be scratched inside by sound and experience the fleeting, invisible beauty." - Maxim Shalygin