A new work by Dutch composer Joey Roukens will be featured in Welcome to Calefaxland, the concert series by the celebrated Calefax Reed Quintet. The fourth edition of the series welcomes writer, actor, and former Dutch Poet Laureate Ramsey Nasr as special guest, whose lifelong fascination with classical music shapes the evening’s narrative.
Roukens is widely recognized as one of the most dynamic voices in contemporary Dutch music. His compositions are known for their vibrant energy and their openness to a wide range of influences, from classical tradition to jazz, pop, and film music. In Juncture, Roukens explores the idea of a meeting point—where musical styles, eras, and ideas intersect.
This concept fits naturally within the program curated by Ramsey Nasr and Calefax. Nasr, who humorously describes himself as a classical music “addict,” owns around 12,000 CDs and has spent years exploring the repertoire with extraordinary curiosity. Together with Calefax, he leads the audience on a musical journey beginning in the Middle Ages with Guillaume de Machaut, continuing through Renaissance polyphony with Nicolas Gombert, and moving into Romanticism with Robert Schumann.
The journey continues into the dramatic world of opera with music by Giacomo Puccini before culminating in Nasr’s deep admiration for the Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich, whom he affectionately calls “Shoske.”
Within this sweeping historical panorama, Juncture represents the contemporary moment—a musical intersection where past traditions and present creativity meet. Performed by the adventurous musicians of Calefax, the work highlights the continuing evolution of classical music and the exciting possibilities that emerge when different musical worlds converge.
Composers in the crosshairs of our attention