Amstel Quartet

Newsletter December 2016

Contents:
Tracks at the Concertgebouw >>
Sad news from Ties >>
Introducing: Harry Cherrin >>
An eclectic start of the New Year >>
EWI - Electronic Wind Instrument >>

For all our future concerts please visit our website: www.amstelquartet.nl

Tracks at the Concertgebouw

December 2nd, 21:00h - Concertgebouw Amsterdam

A swirling mass of cyclists, cars, pedestrians, ringing bells of trams. These are ususal hectic activities a visitor of Amsterdam will encounter. But on December 2nd the Amstel Quartet will offer you a quiet moment in the Concertgebouw with works by John Cage, J.S. Bach, Thomas Tallis and Steve Reich.

TRACKS brings the best classic 'tracks', theater and stories together in the intimate recital hall of the Concertgebouw. A perfect way to experience classical music in a different way.

Sad news from Ties

Our concert Tracks at the Concertgebouw on December 2nd will be an evening of farewells and new beginnings: Ties decided to leave the group.

After 19 years of highlights, joys, sorrows, memorable travels around the world and 11 wonderful recordings, Ties has concluded that it is time for him to go his own way. The Concertgebouw, one of the finest concert halls there is, will be the stage this farewell deserves.

Ties wrote a letter to all Amstel Quartet fans that can be read here.

Introducing: Harry Cherrin

We are delighted to introduce you to our brand new quartet member who will fill the vacancy on baritone: Harry Cherrin.

He is an American saxophonist, educated at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Just like Olivier, Bas and Remco. You'll be able to see him in action at the Tracks concert as well. As mentioned before: an evening of farewells, but also of new beginnings.

About Harry:
Harry Cherrin is an American saxophonist, improvisor, and composer based in the Netherlands since 2006. Since completing his saxophone studies with Arno Bornkamp, he has performed throughout the Netherlands and abroad with a wide variety of musical projects, ranging from Classical solo and chamber music, Jazz, Pop, free improvisation, and electronics.

An eclectic start of the New Year

The success story of Philippe Elan and the Amstel Quartet continues in 2017: on January 14th, their program Sax avec Elan! will be performed in Grootschermer near the Dutch city of Alkmaar, and on March 19th they’ll bring the combination to Luxembourg for a second time, to the quartet’s beloved festival "Musek am Syrdall".

The quartet will also present the german premiere of “Classical Zen” - a program that takes you through minimalistic, meditative and hypnotic music through all the ages - ranging from Thomas Tallis and Dietrich Buxtehude to John Cage and Terry Riley.

This will all happen in the hauntingly beautiful castle of Bevern on January 22nd, and in Fürth / Nürnberg on February 10th. You’ll also be able to follow this concert live on the Bayerischer Rundfunk - Klassik , one of Germany’s most prominent classical music stations.

Finally, Philip Glass -one of the Amstel Quartet’s favorites - will turn 80 in 2017, an event that will be celebrated throughout the world. The Amstel Quartet will pay their own special tribute to this legend of Minimal Music. More details on “Glass on the Roof” to be announced in our spring newsletter, but in the meantime - if you want to enjoy a little teaser - you can hear us at the Glass Hommage Concert in Hoofddorp on February 5th, with - amongst others - his 1969 classic Music in Similar Motion.

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a great New Year full of musical discoveries!

EWI - Electronic Wind Instrument

The soundworld of the Amstel Quartet keeps on expanding

Some time ago we've been experimenting with jazz setups [mouthpieces and reeds], before that we played organ music by J.S. Bach using all kinds of effects like harmonizers, guitar effects, octavers, vocoders and more. About ten yeras ago we changed our Selmer's and Yana's for a set of supersmooth Buescher's.

The next steps have already been taken and can be heard in 2017. All of us have been great fans of Michael Brecker for a long time [of course…] and hearing him play the EWI [Electronic Wind Instrument made by AKAI] inspired us to play that instrument as well. A few years we've been looking for a chance to play that breathcontrolled synthesizer, but now it will really happen we'll perform 'Music in Similar Motion' by Philip Glass mixing our saxophones with EWI's. Come and hear us at one of our Glass on the Roof concerts.