Presentation Willem Pijper Award
Arjan Linker
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Jhalla in Raga Darbari
Trevor Grahl
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Music for Malmö (fragment)
Cecilia Arditto Delsoglio
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Tissue
Symphony orchestra of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam
On Saturday, composers Cecilia Arditto Delsoglio and Trevor Grahl receive the Willem Pijper Award 2023. No less than two laureates this time: out of this period’s abundant musical harvest, the jury decided to award two works that are very different but very similar in certain ways as well. Arditto and Grahl write for traditional media (orchestra and organ, respectively) but deploy them in their own fresh and idiosyncratic ways.
Cecilia Arditto Delsoglio receives the award for her orchestral work Tissue (2019) with which, in the words of the jury, she ‘hypnotises’ the listener. Following the award ceremony, Tissue is performed by the symphony orchestra of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
Trevor Grahl is awarded for Music for Malmö (2019), a composition for solo organ and electronics. Grahl has a deep familiarity with the organ and uses it as ‘a source of exceptionally rich colours, nuances, and unprecedented playing modes’, according to the jury. Because Grahl’s work calls for a specific kind of midi-controlled organ, of which there are only a few in Europe, it unfortunately cannot be performed in The Hague. On Sunday afternoon 2 June, Dag in de Branding therefore presents an extra concert at the Amsterdam Orgelpark, where Grahl plays Of Ancient Days, on which he has based Music for Malmö.
The Willem Pijper Award is one of the composition awards of the municipality of The Hague, curated by the Johan Wagenaar Foundation. Previous winners include Hugo Morales Murguía and Yannis Kyriakides. This year’s laureates receive their awards from alderman Saskia Bruines.