At the Grachtenfestival, everything starts with music. Young musicians from all over the world surprise you with their own musical story. With all of Amsterdam as a beautiful backdrop. The famous Intercontinental Ensemble will have two concerts published works from Donemus.
On Thursday, August 18 they perform works by Bianca Bongers and Sarah Neutkens. In this program, Intercontinental Ensemble examines how today’s composers deal with resistance – and how recent developments can give new meaning to existing pieces. Bianca Bongers, in her new work “Surrounded by Air – Appearance IV,” questions how a silent, personal resistance to global injustice works. Intercontinental Ensemble is joined by percussion. This piece was made possible by a grant from the Fonds Podiumkunsten. Also on the program ‘September I’ for nonet by Sarah Neutkens which was commissioned by Intercontinental Ensemble, originally composed for saxophone quartet.
On August 19 they will perform a special arrangement of Schumann’s cello concerto. For the Intercontinental Ensemble, the cello concerto is the third concerto they have turned into a nonet format. They complete their project of adapting all of Robert Schumann’s solo concertos. It feels like an anniversary to play this piece at the festival where they originally brought the first concerto. As with the violin concerto (premiere Grachtenfestival 2020 with Niek Baar) and piano concerto (soloist Nicolas van Poucke), they themselves have transformed the work into a new, more transparent setting. The soloist is given more leeway by the flexible setting of nonet to develop fully; a promising artist like Benjamin Kruithof knows how to use this uncultivated territory perfectly.
Concert on Thursday, August 18 with Sarah Neutkens and Bianco Bongers
Concert on Friday, August 19 with Ernst Spyckerelle’s arrangement of Robert Schumann
Composers in the crosshairs of our attention