Composing can be learned. That is the motto of Stichting In de Knop, which has made a name for itself with successful composition workshops for young people. More than once, the spark has caught: several participants went on to study composition after taking the workshop.

This autumn, Classical NOW! and Dag in de Branding bring the successful formula to The Hague. Composer Eva Beunk coaches ten budding composers, who will present their very first pieces in the Paleiskerk.

Over five sessions in the Koorenhuis, the ten young participants work on their pieces. What makes this workshop special is a luxury even conservatory students might envy: the young composers have three musicians at their fingertips who play through their sketches. What they come up with in one session, they soon hear sounding in real life. This way, they immediately discover what works and what doesn’t, and can adjust their notes accordingly. Even those who cannot write notation are welcome: they learn to work with graphic scores, in which music is drawn using lines, shapes and colours.

Stichting In de Knop is an initiative of composers Anne‑Maartje Lemereis (Composer Laureate of the Netherlands 2024–2025) and Remy Alexander. What stands out time and again is how uninhibited young people work on their first pieces: idiosyncratic, curious, and still free from the inhibitions that can sometimes paralyse adult composers.