The sound of saxophones is all over this edition of Festival Dag in de Branding, thanks to the contribution of our guest curator, composer Jan-Peter de Graaff. De Graaff fell in love with the instrument when he was eight years old, and he firmly believes saxophones should be a regular fixture in the symphony orchestra. ‘I try to include a part for sax in every commissioned composition, also because we have so many world-class saxophonists in the Netherlands,’ says De Graaff. The saxophone is not the only central thread through this edition of the festival: the programme also centres around the theme ‘between the city and the sea’ – highly appropriate in coastal The Hague, where De Graaff studied at the Royal Conservatoire.
Growing up on the island of Terschelling, De Graaff knew the sea well, but when he came to The Hague at age eighteen, he met with a very different kind of sea: ‘The first time I came to Scheveningen, I thought: why is there a fair going on at the beach?’
This theme is central to the Sonic Panorama programme, performed by the adventurous ensemble Kluster5. Guest curator De Graaff and a handful of his contemporaries paint an acoustic equivalent of the famous Panorama Mesdag. The Gelderland-based new music specialists of Orkest de Ereprijs – who always have two saxophonists in their ranks – are here to present a selection of their successful concert series Aardlek: urgent matters, in which they connect topical issues with contemporary music.
On Saturday night, Amare sees the world premiere of De Graaff’s latest work: the Concerto Metropolitain, with the saxophonists of the Ardemus Quartet as soloists. Together with the Residentie Orkest, the young Amsterdam quartet explores the relationship between people and the city’s ‘concrete jungle’. Another set of four saxophones opens the Festival as the Keuris Quartet celebrates its tenth anniversary with the ingenious and slightly jazzy party concert Piece of Cake.
