Symposium of Contemporary Music, 2008

Illinois Wesleyan University

SCHOOL OF MUSIC presents

SYMPOSIUM OF

David Vayo, Director

New Music from the Netherlands Featured Guests: Roderik de Man, composer Annelie de Man, harpsichordist February 9-10, 2008 Westbrook Auditorium

is Wesle an UNIVERSITY

Co-Sponsors: Consulate General of the Netherlands in Chicago Music Center the Netherlands

A Note from the Symposium Director The old saw that teachers get as much back from their students as they give has been true in my own experience from the beginning. Open-mindedness, energy, and new ways of looking at things are the sorts of gifts I normally receive from my students, but on occasion they've also given me career opportunities.

About ten years ago I performed the premiere of Play of Hands, a composition of mine for amplified harpsichord, at IWU. One of my composition students at the time, Steven Kallstrom- a brilliant young man now working in website design- was also studying harpsichord, and had joined a listserv dedicated to contemporary music for that instrument. A frequent contributor was Annelie de Man, a nice lady from the Netherlands who Steve came to realize was one of the world's leading performers of new harpsichord music, for whom many leading composers had written pieces. He was kind enough to mention his teacher's composition, and within the year I was in Amsterdam rehearsing with Annelie as she readied Play of Hands for its European premiere.

Annelie introduced me to her (equally nice) composer husband Roderik, a leading light of the thriving Dutch contemporary-music scene, which is arguably the world's richest. Until his recent retirement, Roderik was a colleague of 2004 Symposium guest Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, and his talents include a special gift for combining electronic sounds effectively with traditional instruments. It is a pleasure to welcome these world-class musicians and delightful people- who have just become grandparents for the second time!- to Illinois Wesleyan.

-David Vayo

February

9-7:30PM

ANNELIE DE MAN)

harpsichord

Play of Hands ......... ... . . .............. David Vayo PONG . .... . .... Arnoud Noordegraaf, music and video Toccare ... .. ..... ... . . .. .. . . . . ... . .. . .. Ton BruyneI Les soupirs de Rameau . .. .. ..... .. . . Jacob ter Veldhuis (Video: Kristien Kerstens) Following the program, the audience is invited to a reception in the Presser Hall reception room, courtesy of Sigma Alpha Iota This program is presented as part of the IWU New Music Series

Annelie de Man

studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Janny van Wering and Bob van Asperen. After devoting herself to Baroque music for several years, she turned to the performance of contemporary music and stimulated composers, both at home and from abroad, to write for her. One of the first was Dutch composer Louis Andriessen with "Overture to Orpheus" (1982).

Annelie de Man plays a double-manual instrument built in 1978 by Theo de Haas and redecorated by Frisian graphic artist Sies Bleeker in 1987. It features on the cover of "Harpsichord and clavichord music of the twentieth century" by Frances Bedford (published in 1993 by Fallen Leaf Press, Ca/USA).

As professor of contemporary harpsichord music at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, she teaches students from all over the world. She has given masterclasses and lectures at conservatories and universities in countries such as The Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia (Tsjaikovski Conservatorium Moscow) and Canada. In 1994 she collaborated with Music Center "De IJsbreker" in organizing the International Harpsichord Week in Amsterdam and in 1997 she was on the jury of the International Gaudeamus Young Interpreters Competition.

She is secretary of the Foundation Ton Bruynel, dedicated to the promotion of electronic music, and on the board of the Festival November Music.

Since 2006 she has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Alienor Foundation. She has performed concerts in The Netherlands (e.g. the Holland Festival, International Gaudeamus Music Week, the Dutch Music Days) with the Schonberg Ensemble, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Millennium tour in Japan 2000), the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Radio Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the ASKO Ensemble, and with conductors as Riccardo Chailly, Oliver Knussen, Otto Tausk, Gidon Kremer and Lev Markiz.

She has toured Austria (Festival Aspekte Salzburg), Germany, Spain, Scotland, Norway (World Music Days/Oslo 1990), France (Festival de Musique Electro-acoustique de Bourges 1992), Finland (Festival Time of MusiclViitasaari 1994), Ukraine (Festival New Music Odessa/1996), Ireland (Dublin 1999), Japan (Millenniumtournee Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra 2000), Canada (October 2003), Poland (Festival AudioArt November 2001 Krakow), Italy (Festival Spaziomusica 2003 in Cagliari), Jauna Muzika (Vilnius/Lithuania 2006) and Warsaw (Festival Warschauer Herbst 2006). In 2002 she played 35 performances live on stage of'Rameau: created by choreographer Ed Wubbe on the 'Pieces de clavecin' by Jean-Philippe Rameau with the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam.

Together with bass clarinetist Harry Sparnaay she founded the duo Double Action. This unusual combination inspired many composers from The Netherlands and abroad to write for it. In the meantime the duo has toured The Netherlands, Ireland, Poland, and Canada with performances and workshops in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary. With violinist Tiziana Pintus and violoncellist John Addison she performs baroque and contemporary repertoire. Annelie de Man is married to composer Roderik de Man and lives in Amsterdam.

Play of Hands was written in honor of Professor Glenn Watkins on the occasion of his retirement from the University of Michigan. Dr. Watkins is an eminent musicologist whose research has centered on Renaissance and Twentieth Century music (as a young man, he introduced Igor Stravinsky to the music of Italian Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo, and was thus the catalyst for Stravinsky's Monumentum pro Gesualdo ). I took Dr. Watkins' Renaissance music class as a graduate student, and remembered his strong interest in "new music for old instruments-" hence my choice of the harpsichord. Dr. Watkins had befriended many young composers during his tenure

at Michigan, and was presented upon his retirement with a bound volume containing verbal and musical tributes from composition alumni. While Play of Hands was originally intended to be part of this volume, it took on a life of its own and became a much longer piece than I had originally intended.

The title refers to the fun I had, as a pianist, in experimenting with an instrument which has two keyboards (or, technically, manuals). The variety of tone colors (controlled by stop levers) produced by the instrument also fascinated me. While working with the harpsichord, I came to realize that some of the powerful sounds I was enjoying in a small practice room would not have the same presence in a concert hall; hence my use of amplification.

-David Vayo

Arnoud Noordegraaf (1974) website: http://www.inexcelsisvideo.net/indexE.html Arnoud Noordegraaf is a composer who doesn't shy away from narrative in his work. His productions form a class apart within Dutch contemporary music, combining interdisciplinary media in compositions and theatrical forms, resulting in 'a remarkable unity in style and atmosphere' (NRC Handelsblad) or 'a perfect and poetic balance between spatial image and sound' (Subjectivist).

Noordegraaf studied theatre at the Maastricht Theatre School and composition at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, with Gilius van Bergeijk and Martijn Padding. His musical style is focussed on a strong interaction between live instruments and their electronic counterparts; a very surrealistic musical vocabulary, in which instruments or voices produce sounds beyond their natural capacities. The musician's struggle with an invisible counterpart complements the theatrical struggle of accepting the world as it is, a reoccurring theme in Noordegraaf's work.

During his composition studies, Noordegraaf studied film making by participating in Dutch Film Academy projects as well as working various jobs on television productions. Also he wrote and produced his own short films.

In 2001 Noordegraaf founded inexcelsisvideo, a production company aimed at creating high quality film and video for stage arts; for his own productions as well as for others. Inexcelsisvideo produced various films and videos for composers such as Roderik de Man and Michel van der Aa. In 2006 inexcelsisvideo produced the video-decor for Van der Aas opera After Life.

Compositions and films by Arnoud Noordegraaf are performed and screened in many countries and in different arenas, such as concert venues, film festivals, ballet companies and modern art museums. 'Noordegraaf is a noticeable multi-media talent' (Telegraaf).

Ton Bruynel (1934-1998) website: http://www.tonbruynel.nl Ton Bruynel was born in Utrecht and died in Mailly, France. From 1952 to 1956 he studied piano with Wolfgang Wijdeveld at the Utrecht Conservatory of Music. His choice of teacher was motivated both by the fact that Wijdeveld had been a pupil of Bela Bartok and that he was active as a composer at a time when composition was not offered as a course of study in Utrecht. In defiance of the cold shoulder given to composition, Bruynel banded together with fellow students Peter Schat and Jan van Vlijmen, rallying round the composer Kees van Baaren. Van Baaren introduced his young disciples to dodecaphony, with which Bruynel felt little affinity. His attention, rather, was focused enthusiastically on the French musique concrete. He chose his instrumentation with the reproduction of concrete sounds in mind, and oriented himself with the Electronic Music Studio at the universities of Utrecht and Delft, later renamed the Institute for Sonology.

In 1957 he established his own studio in Utrecht - the first private studio in The Netherlands - in writing music which combines electronic and acoustic sounds. In the 1970s and 1980s he taught electronic-composition at the Utrecht Conservatory.

Bruynel won the prize for 'Best Dutch entry' during the 1966 International Gaudeamus Music Week for his composition Mobile for two recorded soundtracks. In 1971 his audio-visual 'Kubus-project' (created together with architect AIdo van Eijck and sculptor Carel Visser) was exhibited in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

His compositions Chicharras (a joint project with the poet Bert Schierbeek) and Adieu Petit Prince (based on texts by Antoine de SaintExupery) earned Bruynel an award at the 1986 International Festival for Electronic Music in Bourges, France. One of Ton Bruynel's last works is the video opera Non sana un Ucella. This production on the history of flight was commissioned by VPRO-television and directed by Fred van Dijk.

Jacob ter Veldhuis (1951) website:http://www.jacobterveldhuis.com/index.htm Dutch avant pop composer JacobTV (aka Jacob Ter Veldhuis) started as a rock musician and studied composition and electronic music at the Groningen Conservatoire, where he was awarded the Dutch Composition Prize in 1980. During the eighties he made a name for himself with melodious compositions, straight from the heart and with great effect. 'I pepper my music with sugar,'he says.

JacobTV is preoccupied with American media and world events and draws raw material from those sources. His work possesses an explosiv~ strength and raw energy combined with extraordinarily intricate architectural design.

TV makes superb use of electronics, incorporating sound bytes from political speeches, commercials, interviews, talk shows, television evangelists, and what have you - a colorful mix of high and low culture.

Long queues at the box office for the four-day Jacob TV Festival in Rotterdam in 2001 already attested to the growing popularity of this composer, both in the Netherlands and abroad. His Goldrush Concerto, the Third String Quartet and several of his so-called boombox pieces like Grab It! became hits, and various choreographers have been inspired by his music.

Early in his career, JacobTV already stood up to what he called the 'washed-out avant garde: which made him a controversial figure in certain circles. He strives to liberate new music from its isolation by employing a direct - at times provocative - idiom that spurns 'the dissonant', which in TV's view reflects a completely devalued means of musical expression.

His 'coming-out' as a composer of ultra-tonal, mellifluous music reached its climax with the video oratorio Paradiso. At the Holland Festival 2005, the premiere of ... NOW: .. for stereophonic orchestra performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra received standing ovations.

JacobTV is one of the most performed contemporary Dutch composers. In May 2007 a three day JacobTV Festival took place at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Recently bastamusic.com released a box set trilogy containing 11 hours of audio and video.

February lO-3:00PM

Music of RODERIK

DE MAN

""Tandem, part 1......... William West, tenor saxophone Amanda Legner, percussion Chordis Canam (Video: Cecil Webb) ......................... Annelie de Man, harpsichord Case History .............. Joshua Ziemann, percussion Cordes Invisibles ............. Nina Gordon, violoncello David Vayo, piano ÂŤMusic, when soft voices die ... ÂŤ (Video: Marcel Wierckx) ......................... Electroacoustic composition *World premiere, version for saxophone and percussion

Following the program, the audience is invited to a reception in the Presser Hall reception room, courtesy of Delta Omicron This program is presented as part of the IWU New Music Series

Roderik de Man

(Bandung/lndonesia 1941) studied percussion with Frans van der Kraan and theory of music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. At the same time he participated in composition classes with Kees van Baaren and worked in the electronic studio as a student of Dick Raaymakers. Beginning in 1972 he taught theoretical subjects and composition to young composers at the same institute until his retirement in 2007.

Since 1998 he has served on the board of CEM (Center for Electronic Music). Recently he was asked to be counselor to the board of the Stichting Ton Bruynel, a foundation for the promotion of electronic music, and since

the fall of 2003 he has been on the board of the GAUDEAMUS Foundation.

Roderik de Man has received many commissions from such organizations as the Foundation for the Creation of Music, the Amsterdam Art Fund, and the Johan Wagenaar Foundation. He composes purely instrumental as well as instrumental/electronic music. His oeuvre consists of solo pieces, chamber music, and works for choir, large ensembles and orchestra.

Several times his compositions have been selected by the international jury of the ISCM (the International Society for Contemporary Music) to be performed during the World Music Days (Oslo 1991, Mexico 1993, Seoul 1997, Bucharest 1998, Switzerland 2004, Hong Kong 2007). In 1991 "Chordis Canam" for harpsichord and tape won the 2nd prize in the competition of the Festival de Musique Electroacoustique in Bourges, where he was among the finalists in 1996, 1997, 1998,2000 and 2001. In 1999 "Air to Air" for flute, basset horn and trumpet received the 2nd prize in the same festival and also the 2nd prize in the Concorso Internazionale di Composizione "Citta die Torino 2000': "Music, when soft voices die .. :: composed in 2002 at the request of-and in the studios of- the Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges, was awarded the first prize in the competition Musica Nova in Prague. In 2005 "Cordes Invisibles" for violoncello, piano and tape (cd) won the first prize in the Concours International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges. Roderik de Man's music has been performed and broadcast in most European countries as well as in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Japan.

"Tandem" marimba/perc/saxophones 10' 2002/2007 The title of the work, Tandem, refers to the demanding nature of the work. Only by combined effort and concentration can this musical trajectory be completed successfully. The first part is energetic and both performers participate equally in a fast game of interplay. The image of two people synchronizing their energy to keep a tandem bicycle on the right course was often on my mind while composing this piece.

In this case the work, originally for bassett horn, has been adapted for tenor and soprano saxophone.

Chordis Canam harpsichord/tape 10'15" 1989 The title of this composition is taken from a text (Chordis Canam: by chords I shall sing), which originally embellished Annelie de Man's harpsichord. Since she exclusively performs contemporary music, she decided to ask the Frisian painter Sies Bleeker to give the instrument a more appropriate appearance. The result struck me in such a manner, that I decided to

write a composition based on this transformation. All sounds, except one, originate from the harpsichord. The intention is that the living harpsichord sound mingles with the one of the tape, in such a way that it is not always clear which of the two plays the leading part in this interaction.

CCCase History" percussion(l) 3'35" 2002 A percussionist is often clearly recognizable by the aluminum case with all the mallets and sticks that accompanies him/her everywhere. When I was asked to write a short piece (as for example an encore) for Niels Meliefste, an excellent Dutch percussionist, I decided this should be the theme. In the case, there is an assortment of thimbles, sticks and mallets and the case itself turns out to be the instrument.

CCCordes invisibles" cello/piano/tape (cd) 14' 2004 Cordes Invisibles was written at the request of Doris Hochscheid (violoncello) and Frans van Ruth (piano) and commissioned by the Fund for the Creation of Music. The text in the electroacoustic part, written by the composer, was spoken by Clotilde Verwaerde.

"On apen;:oit - mais ne voit pas On entend - mais ne conntlit pas On sent - mais ne peut pas expliquer Cordes invisibles" The text refers to ideas expressed by the German philosopher and psychologist Carl Stumpf, who explained that, although whilst listening to music we may not always be able to follow the structure of a piece rationally, our subconscious understanding compensates for this. The "invisible chords" also refer to the connections between the instrumental and electronic part.

Cordes Invisibles won the first Prize in the 32nd Concours International de Musique et d'Art Sonore Electroacoustiques, Bourges 2005

''Music, when soft voices die ..."for tape 10' 2002 Commissioned by the Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges and realized in their Studio Charybde. First Prize Musica Nova 2004 Prague. The title refers to a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley; the sentence was also used in an earlier work for mixed choir and tape, On Sensations of Tone. Music, when soft voices die ... is a composition in which I have tried to reflect on my experience in electronic music in the years before this piece.

Usually I combine live instruments with electronics; this purely electronic piece was an interesting challenge.

The 8-track setup makes a sound projection possible which belongs to the original design; the stereo version is a practical adaptation. The origin of the sound material is a mixture of purely electronic and acoustic sources, and (contrary to any of my other pieces) in some instances, refers to earlier work.

In 2006 Marcel Wierckx was commissioned to make a video inspired by this composition. Recent performances are often presented in combination with this video.

0ymposium oj 'T3ontempo'la'lY ~usic Guest Composers • Performers • Scholars 1952-2007 1952: Earl George, Grant Fletcher, Burrill Phillips

1982: David Ward-Steinman

1953: Anthony Donato, Homer Keller

1983: George Crumb Concert

1954: Normand Lockwood, Robert Palmer

1984: Robert Bankert, Abram M. Plum, R. Bedford Watkins

1955: Wallingford Riegger, Peter Mennin

1985: Michael Schelle

1956: Hunter Johnson, Ulysses Kay

1987: Jan Bach

1957: Ernst Krenek, William Bergsma

1988: John Beall

1958: Aaron Copland 1959: Paul Pisk, George Rochberg 1960: Roy Harris 1962: Robert Erickson, George Rochberg, Glenn Glasow 1963: Robert Wykes, Alabama String Quartet 1964: Robert Wykes, E. J. Ulrich, Salvatore Martirano, Herbert Briin, Ben Johnston 1966: Louis Coyner, Edwin Harkins, Philip Winsor, Edwin London 1967: Frederick Tillis, George Crumb 1968: lain Hamilton 1969: The Loop Group, DePaul University 1970: Halim El-Dabh, Olly Wilson 1971: Edward J. Miller 1972: Stravinsky Memorial Concert 1973: Courtney Cox, Phil Wilson 1974: Scott Huston 1975: David Ward-Steinman 1976: Donald Erb 1977: Lou Harrison, Ezra Sims 1978: M. William Karlins 1979: Leonard B. Meyer

1981: Walter S. Hartley

1986: Jean Eichelberger Ivey

1989: Hale Smith 1990: Karel Husa 1991: Alice Parker

1993: (Spring) Alexander Aslamazov 1993: (Fall) Leslie Bassett, John Crawford (Society of Composers, Inc. Region 5 Conference) 1995: David Diamond 1996: Morton Gould Memorial Concert 1997: Joseph Schwantner 1998: Arvo Part 1999: John Corigliano 2000: Libby Larsen 2001: William Bolcom, Joan Morris 2002: Present Music 2003: Mario Lavista, Carmen Helena Tellez 2004: Louis Andriessen, James Quandt, Monica Germino, Cristina Zavalloni 2005: Vince Mendoza 2006: New York New Music Ensemble 2007: Stephen Paulus

2008: (Spring) Roderik de Man Annelie de Man