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No concerts, no rehearsals during this corona crisis. Although we are still at home, we still feel a big urge to communicate with the public; making music is our life. With this performance of an early work [1967] by Steve Reich, we hope to give everyone a little bit of support in this difficult time. Normally we realise this piece with the help of the audience: Upon entering the venue, people are asked to record their own name, and a selection those names will then be heard in the hall during the concert. While many audience members record their name, no one is sure if theirs will be used, so there is a healthy, almost childlike tension about whether someone will get to hear his or her own name. Anyone who went to the concert with the "speaker" will also be waiting with anticipation, and once the voice in question is heard , there is often a response that ranges from hilarity to shyness. In this piece, Reich uses his "phase shifting" technique, in which sounds gradually shift over one another. The well-known Piano Phase and Violin Phase were written around the same time. While in the 1960’s contemporary music was most often characterised by a sense of detachment, this work allows the audience to participate very closely and makes the music much more personal. In the late 1960s tape recorders were initially used for the phase shifting processes, but our soprano saxophonist Remco has designed a computer program that achieves the same effect. The recordings of our voices were made at the quartet members’ homes.

Got up early to play a little tune at the beachclub #music #beach #saxophonesolo #quiet #sea #wind #stickygsharp #alone

Join Amstel Quartet & Anass Habib for a special Streaming Concert this Sunday! Due to the Corona outbreak, this Sunday's scheduled concert will now be a "virtual premiere" of 'Stories of the Soul' via livestream, featuring classic Arabic songs in all new arrangements for voice and saxophone quartet. The performance will be broadcast all day Sunday from the Bethel church in The Hague, a church that made headlines a few years back with a months-long church service to prevent the deportation of a family of Armenian refugees. Now the church becomes the scene for a musical connection across borders with this streaming concert of 'Stories of the Soul'. Streaming available all day Sunday, 15 March on amstelquartet.nl

#photography #coffee #amsterdam #selfie #laptop #noglasses #plans #future #fan #celebrity #pictureoftheday #staytuned #please #intune #lunch #albumcover #

Selfie with Reza Namavar just before the world premiere of his piece Tiare Tahiti 🤘

Anass showing off sone Yuruk skills

warming up

#arab #songs #fayrouz #oumkalthoum #saxophone

Hereby we present to you our aftermovie of the Amstel Quartet Presents: Classical Zen program!! We're delighted with the result, hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do. We wish everyone a merry christmas and happy new year full of beautiful music! Many thanks to Aftermovie maker @j_ivar (http://ivarjansen.nl/)

chilling with the amazing arabic singer Anass Habib

We had a beautiful evening in @dewaalsekerk performing Classical Zen... Photos by @steynpics #waalsekerk #classicalmusic #zenmusic #saxophone #quartet #dufourt #glass #cage #spectralmusic