Agenda

The end result of Amstel Quartet's half-year collaboration with student composers at the International School of the Hague. AQ will perform new works for saxophone quartet by members of the ISH's IB Diploma music class. The young composers have learned how to write idiomatically for saxophone, heard recordings and feedback on their draft versions of their pieces, and now will finally hear the final versions performed in concert!

Een afwisselend nieuwjaarsprogramma  met origineel werk voor saxofoonkwartet en twee door leden van het kwartet samengestelde symfonieën.

special guest: Laura Sandee - piano

Todos los Fuegos el Fuego - Maxim Shalygin

Amstel Quartet and Keuris Quartet

“Todos los fuegos el fuego” is a musical cycle that immerses the listener for one hour in a mystical act, sparking off the imagination and opening up unknown emotional conditions.

“Todos los fuegos el fuego” for saxophone octet constitutes a mysterious and exciting link between music and literature. For the second chapter of the life-long Similar cycle (where the first one is: “Lacrimosa or 13 Magic Songs” for 7 violins) , Shalygin draws inspiration from “Todos los fuegos el fuego”, arguably the most enigmatic book by the great Cortázar. All short stories in this collection share an exit into a parallel, magic reality, sometimes near to ours, sometimes strikingly different from it. Their forms provoke peculiar musical dramaturgic solutions, whereas an abundance of pseudo-musical forms enables for the creation of a unique atmosphere, using an enlarged variety of performance techniques.

Suite’s overall structure consists of eight parts, performed by eight saxophone players — as many as there are stories in the book (and syllables in its title, which, incidentally, sounds like a saxophone phrase by itself). The saxophone is chosen for a reason, since, for all his knowledge and passion for music, jazz claimed the most of Cortázar’s attention. Jazz, and accordingly the sound of the saxophone was his muse and constant presence in many of his most well-known fiction. Moreover, the saxophone is involved in many mystical moments in music, literature, and, last but not least, cinema — a fascination I share with him as well.

let op:

Het reserveringsysteem geeft aan uitverkocht, omdat gezien de Covid-19 maatregelen het op dit moment onduidelijk is of de concerten doorgang kunnen vinden. Daarom worden de toegangskaarten een maand van te voren actief gemaakt.

Via de website www.kamermuziekcyclus-tdi.nl wordt het één maand van te voren bekend gemaakt of een concert door gaat.

Op deze manier willen wij u tegemoet komen, zodat u alsnog het concert kunt bijwonen.

Chamber Symphony

César Franck, Johannes Brahms, Pjotr Iljitsj Tchaikovsky 

 - I Allegro Non Troppo (Franck, from Symphony In D) 

- II Poco Allegretto (Brahms, from Symphony No. 3) 

- III Scherzo (Tchaikovsky, from Symphony No. 2) 

Ennio Morricone – Gabriels Oboe 

Philip Glass – Mishima 

Richard Wagner – The Ring 

Samuel Barber – Adagio for Strings op. 11

Ode to Orpheus: 400 Years Sweelinck

Music by Sweelinck, Vrolijk, Fiumara

Exactly four hundred years after his death, the spirit of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck is still very much alive in the Netherlands. In this memorable year, Amstel Quartet brings an ode to the ‘Prince of Musicke’.

They play his famous fantasias and vocal compositions, complemented with work by present-day Dutch composers such as Anthony Fiumara and Renske Vrolijk.

Sax avec Elan!

Philippe Elan and the Amstel Quartet featuring Thérèse Steinmetz

Music by Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf and others

Drift away with moving French chansons and compelling stories, in the unique combination of chansonnier Philippe Elan and the Amstel Quartet. Elan is a household name to anyone with a passion for the French chanson. He once began his musical career playing the saxophone in the local brass band, but it soon became apparent that his true passion was to sing. The saxophone continued to play a part in his life though and so it was no coincidence that he said yes to a collaboration with the Amstel Quartet: they understand like no other what singing is. And the chansons by Brel, Aznavour and Piaf are perfectly suited to him. The press quite rightly wrote: “Philippe Elan sings these songs with such charm and passion that he effortlessly illustrates why these chansons have become classics.”

Classical Zen