Three new artists-in-residence
During Festival Dag in de Branding on 20 and 21 May, the three artists-in-residence will present the result of their residency. We spoke to composers Julian Maple-Oliveira and Thomas van Dun, and harpist Michela Amici for a short introduction!
What does it mean to you to be an artist-in-residence at Festival Dag in de Branding?
Thomas van Dun: “The residency offers me room for musical development and discovery. Normally when you accept assignments, there is also a certain expectation from the client that the music will have to meet. This limits to a certain extent how far you can go outside your known limits with your creative process. However, Festival Dag in de Branding only asked me to experiment and develop myself. So now it is possible to realise a project that I always wanted to do. In addition, it can also be said that their artist-in-residence status simply means ‘work’, and that is not something that can be taken for granted in these times. The cultural sector has suffered a gigantic blow the last 2 years. Many composers did not always or barely had work during this period. The fact that with this project Dag in de Branding offers me the opportunity to continue working and developing for a period of six months, is not only a huge financial support, but also mentally. I am only grateful to them for this.”
Julian Maple-Oliveira: “It means I’ll have something fun to do until May at least! Pretty exciting! On a more serious note: the residency is obviously a nice opportunity to share my music with others. Hopefully I can make the most of it and move people to support my work in whatever way they can. On a personal level, getting a residency like this serves as evidence that there are people out there in the world of arts who enjoy the work I do. This makes me very happy since one of my main goals is to make interesting music and have people relate to it on both an emotional and intellectual level.”
Michela Amici: “It is a wonderful opportunity! Dag in de Branding facilitates working and creating together with makers from different disciplines and supports my research on a collaborative new work through tailored coachings with their artistic leader Isa Goldschmeding. So much care in supporting young makers in all steps of a new music project is really valuable.”
Can you tell us what you are developing for Dag in de Branding and what you hope to present in May?
Thomas van Dun: “The project I’m making for Dag in de Branding is called ‘Light Mass’ and will be a recumbent concert that will take place on Friday 20 May. By this I also mean that the audience will lie in chairs or on mattresses, in the middle of the beautiful 15th century Kloosterkerk on the Lange Voorhout. Around the audience, Ensemble Klang and organist Geerten van de Wetering will play music for 45 minutes that I have specially composed to lead the audience into a kind of trance. This music goes through all kinds of slow developments and will be accompanied by light- and projection art by visual artist Frouke ten Velden. These projections will be projected onto the ceiling, affecting the audience both visually and aurally. With all these resources – the location, the projections, the organ, the instruments, and the lying down – I want to create an all-round experience for the audience which will stay with them.”
Julian Maple-Oliveira: “For the Dag in de Branding project I am developing a series of five musical experiments in the form of songs for voice, electronics and instrumental ensemble. This project combines my love for cartoons and contemporary music. In associating these two aspects I’ve created a persona named Oliver Maple – a cartoon character who writes music and goes on fantastic (and fun) adventures.
Michela Amici: “I have been researching the musical form of the “lament” in early opera and how a new text in combination with today’s music can give a new meaning to this form, closer to our values. Moreover I will explore how stage design and movement can influence the communication with the audience. For this I’ve been collaborating with a fantastic team including composer Amarante Nat, writer Julia-Beth Harris, director Peter Leung and mezzo-soprano Georgia Burashko.”
May 20th: 9pm Kloosterkerk, Light Mass – Thomas van Dun.
May 21st: 3pm Barth Kapel, harpist Michela Amici, 4:15pm Nieuwe Kerk, Oliver Maple’s Music Experiments – Set No.1 van Julian Maple-Oliveira. Buy tickets.