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As the new concert season of 2020-2021 is on its way, we’d like to highlight some of our favourite projects for you. Today: Classical Zen - With Classical Zen, Amstel Quartet brings a selection of iconic minimalist works to the stages. Philip Glass' legendary Mishima soundtrack is combined with the heavenly Harmony of the Spheres by Joep Franssens and the saxophone quartet Four5 by avant-gardist John Cage, but particular attention is also given to the work of spectralist Hugues Dufourt. Amstel Quartet premiered Dufourt's latest saxophone work, Les courants polyphoniques d'après Klee, in 2019 - 25 years after the publication of Dufourt's first saxophone quartet. The Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam proved to be a beautiful stage for the concert, that was attended by the composer himself. Revisit the evening on our Youtube channel!

In September, Amstel Quartet will give four concerts on two different places in Germany - Wennigsen and Stuttgart. We look forward to play some of the all-time classics (Beethoven, Franck, Brahms) as well as pieces from our recent Classical Zen programme full of intense minimalism (Glass, Dufourt, Riley). Find the dates below: 13 Sept 17.00h Kloster Wennigsen, Wennigsen 13 Sept 19.00h Kloster Wennigsen, Wennigsen 24 Sept 18.30h Katholische Kirche St. Fidelis, Stuttgart 24 Sept 20.00h Katholische Kirche St. Fidelis, Stuttgart For more info & tickets, have a look in the agenda on our website!

As the new concert season of 2020-2021 is on its way, we’d like to highlight some of our favourite projects for you. Today: Free Beethoven - 250 years ago, one of the greatest composers in history was born: Ludwig van Beethoven. Amstel Quartet pays tribute to the man who led classicism into romanticism and unmistakably left its mark on Western music history. To celebrate the birth of the 'Father of Romanticism', his works are presented by Amstel Quartet in elegant transcriptions and arrangements, combined with modern interpretations and works by composers from the 20th and 21st century; compositions that resemble Beethoven's structural renewal, sense of drama and revolutionary identity like no other. #ludwigvanbeethoven #500years #beethoven #saxophones #amsterdam #saxophone #quartet

Sneak preview! We did an exciting photoshoot with the great @govertderoos for our upcoming LP American Dream and the new programme Stories of the Soul, together with @anasshabibmusic We hope to share the official results with you very soon! Pictures of the pictures by @azizbekkaoui 📸

As the new concert season of 2020-2021 is on its way, we’d like to highlight some of our favourite projects for you. Today: Stories of the Soul - Stories of the Soul is a programme full of stories and emotions, drawn up together with Moroccan singer Anass Habib. Habib and Amstel Quartet selected, apart from the well-known songs by Oum Kalthoum en Fairuz, stirring work by Mohammed Abdu, the patriotic sounds of the Egyptian father figure Sayid Darwish and compositions by the Rahbani Brothers – at one time the versatile associates of Fairuz. A largely unexplored repertoire for Western audiences, but full of beautiful music, poetry and emotion! #arabic #music #saxophones #anasshabib #abdu #fairuz #darwish #rahbanibrothers #oumkalthoum

As the new concert season of 2020-2021 is on its way, we’d like to highlight some of our favourite projects for you. Today: Ode to Orpheus - The ‘Orpheus of Amsterdam’, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, passed away after a brief illness exactly 400 years ago. Perhaps the greatest composer that the Netherlands ever had was buried in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, next to his beloved organ. He would, however, never sink into oblivion. Or, as the Dutch poet and friend Joost van den Vondel wrote on Sweelinck’s tomb: This is Sweelinck’s mortal part, left to us as cold comfort / the invincible part keeps time with God in the eternal life. In ‘Ode to Orpheus’, Amstel Quartet plays his most famous works. They perform the (chromatic) fantasias that have bewildered the minds of both professional musicians and music enthusiasts for centuries, but also Voicy de Gay Printemps, an originally vocal work that reveals Sweelinck’s interest in secular songs and lyrics from France and Italy. Works by Dutch composers Anthony Fiumara and Renske Vrolijk are added to top off this completely Dutch programme. #sweelinck #orpheus #400years #organ #music #saxophones #saxophone #quartet #fiumara #vrolijk #dutch #amsterdam #netherlands

We've selected some of the best saxophone works for you to soundtrack your summer. Go check it out, link in bio! #saxophone #summer #americandream #ep #mellits #lauba #creston #shalygin #torke #cage #dufourt #mellema #wilson #andmanymore

Today's the day! Our American Dream EP, with the brilliant "Tapas" by @marcmellits and the thrilling "Mambo" by Christian Lauba, is available now on every streaming service. Link in bio! And if you want to see it all happening live: come join us today at the Bethelkapel, the Hague, 16:00h, or later on at @strandtent_defuut 19:30h. Enjoy!

Exactly one year ago we premiered Todos los Fuegos el Fuego at @dagindebranding at the @zuiderstrandtheater in Den Haag, together with the great @maximshalygin and @keurisquartet ! @nrcnl wrote at the time: "Endlessly rising clusters, pulsing tone tapestries in a minimalistic cut, poetic-melodic intermezzi, and a quasi-orthodox hymn running aground in a quarter-tone yowl. Assisted by the phenomenally playing Keuris and Amstel Quartets, he [Shalygin] moulded it all into a perfectly logical, resolute discourse: There’s no other way than this." #tlfef #zuiderstrandtheater #denhaag #saxophones #saxophonequartet #keurisquartet #amstelquartet #maximshalygin #todoslosfuegoselfuego

On my way to our first concert after lockdown 🤗 #concert #arabmusic #fayrouz

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