Choir a capella / with ensemble

Tussen wonderen voor koor SATB (2023)
De tekst bestaat uit de laatste regel  uit A. den Doolaard’s boek De goden gaan naar huis: “We hebben tussen wonderen geleefd, maar we hebben het niet begrepen.” Een regel die tevens op zijn grafsteen (een kei) in Hoenderloo is geplaatst.
 – duration: ca. 2’30”
 – not published yet

The Wanderer  – a little cantata – (March, 2022)
‘Song of the Wanderer’ is a poem that talks about Jose Rizal himself as a wanderer or traveler. In this poem, Rizal describes the loneliness of being a wanderer (reflecting on his return to the Philippines from Europe) and, after being away from his homeland for a long time, the heartbreak of being a stranger in the land of his birth.
Poem by: Jose Rizal
Instrumentation: mixed choir, bass/baritone solo and alto solo and wind quintet (fl, ob, cl, hrn & bassoon)
 – duration: ca. 13′
 – not published yet

The Sick Rose for mixed choir (2021)
On January 6, 2021 an armed and angry mob of Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill and clashed with police as Congress convened to validate Joe Biden’s presidential win. Five people were killed in the violence that ensued as pro-Trump protestors breached barricades and advanced into the halls of the Capitol building. The riot is an attack on Democracy. In William Blake’s “The sick rose” the heart of a rose is attacked by a ‘dark secret love’ and eventually destroyed. A striking similarity in my view, although I hope it won’t get that far.
 – text: William Blake
 – duration: 2’30”
 – not published yet

La guitarra (2020)
instrumentation: mixed choir and guitar
commissioned by and dedicated to Klaas de Jong
The poem is by Federico García Lorca and describes the starting of the playing, the memories it evokes and the impossibility of stopping the guitar. One can characterise this piece as an evocation, combining passages that are strongly based upon Andulisian flavour and its guitar repertoire, with comtemporary texture and idiom.
 – premiere: March 12, 2022 in ‘de Dorpskerk’, Lekkum. Leeuwarder Madrigaalkoor / Broer Giesing / guitar Izhar Elias
 – duration: ca. 9’30”
 – published by Donemus preview

Sudan – a lament (2019)
instrumentation: 5 female voices (or women’s choir)

Sudan was the last male northern white rhino. His passing was in 2018 but it was only In September 2019 when I watched a documentary about him. Guarded by armed men against poachers, It was shocking and at the same time touching to see this giant, so tender and vulnerable in his last moments.
The text was made up of newspaper snippets:

his eye, a sad black dot in his massive, wrinkled face
a noble head of an old warrior
a majestic rectangle of strong bone
his armour battered
victim of futile human destructiveness
guarded by armed men who stand
vigilantly and caringly with him
the passing of the very last of something
soon vanished from the face of the earth
an image of brutality

 – duration: ca. 2′
 – not published yet

O me! O life! (2016)
text: Walt Whitman
instrumentation: mixed choir and string quintet (two violins, viola, cello and double bass)
Dedicated to Fokko Oldenhuis
 – premiere: April 21, 2016 Oudshoornse kerk, Alphen a/d Rijn by Hollands Vocaal Ensemble conducted by Fokko Oldenhuis
 – duration: ca. 12′
 – published by Donemus preview

Draaf, Foekje. Draaf! (2011)
instrumentation: foar brass band, koar en slachwurk (brass band GK4 timp 6perc)
commissioned by Stichting Calliope [The Calliope Foundation] at the request of Marten Postma (Soli Brass)
text: Bouke Oldenhof
Premiere: September 9, 2011 by Ensemble Cantatrix and Soli Brass De Harmonie, Leeuwarden conducted by Frans-Aert Burghgraef. Stage design and footage was done by BUOG. (Bedenkers en Uitvoerders van Ongewone Gebeurtenissen – in English this would mean something like: Inventors and Performers of Unusual Events) Thanks to NOS-Sport television for supplying historical footage of Foekje Dillema . Showing this footage during performance is optional.
 – premiere: September 9, 2011 by Ensemble Cantatrix and Soli Brass De Harmonie, Leeuwarden conducted by Frans-Aert Burghgraef
 – duration: ca. 45′
 – published by Donemus preview
 – an introduction to the performance can be watched here 

La Neige – de “Les notes de’oreiller” (2010)
instrumentation: mixed choir and string quartet
Translated into French, this is a fragment from The Pillow Book by the Japanese court lady Sei Shonagon who lived in the tenth century. The Pillow Book is her diary, which she secretly kept under her pillow during her years in court, containing a collection of lists, gossip, poetry and observations.
 – premiere: June 25, 2011 Eure (Fr) by Tempo 144 and Le Quatuor de Mirmande
 – duration: ca. 6′
 – published by Donemus preview

Als de vogels (2006)
 commissioned by VOCA Deventer
instrumentation: mixed choir and organ
text: Arthur Japin
 – premiere: March 19, 2006 Grote of Lebuïnuskerk’ Deventer(The Netherlands) by VOCA Deventer and organist Hans Steege conducted by Yt Nicolai
 – duration: ca. 6′
 – published by Donemus preview

A thin place – 3 prayers from the Carmina Gadelica for mixed choir (2002)
commissioned by Studium Chorale with financial support of the ‘Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst’ and dedicated to Hans Leenders
The texts come from a collection of prayers which Alexander Carmichael in 1832 was given permission for by local people living in remote areas in Scotland, to write down. “There is a Celtic saying that heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in the thin places that distance is even smaller. A thin place is where the veil that separates heaven and earth is lifted and one is able to receive a glimpse of something devine
the text is sung in Gaelic
 – premiere: September 21, 2002 during the festival Musica Sacra, Maastricht by Studium Chorale conducted by Hans Leenders
 – duration: ca. 10′
 – published by Donemus preview

Sailing to Byzantium (2000)
written for the Egidius Quartet
text: William Butler yeats
instrumentation: four male voices, altus, tenor, baritone and bass.
 – duration: ca. 5′
 – not published

About leaves (1998)
instrumentation: women’s choir and guitar ensemble
commissioned by COMPAM (Componisten voor Amateurmuziek)
text: on three Welsh poems, ‘Leaf’ – Gwyn Thomas, ‘Gathering leaves’ – William Crwys Williams – ‘Englynion’ – John Phillips (Tegidon)
translation: Tony Conran
 – duration: ca. 7′
 – published by Donemus preview

Nightingales (1998) for mixed choir
text: Robert Bridges
 – premiere: …… by the Nederlands Kamerkoor / Huub Kerstens
 – duration: ca. 6′
 – published by Donemus preview

The Whitsun Weddings (1996) for mixed choir
dedicated to Daniel Reuss and Vocaal Ensemble Utrechtse Studenten
Commissioned by and with financial support from the ‘Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst’
texts: Ph. Larkin (Whitsun weddings) and J. Davidson (London).
 – premiere: …..
 – duration: ca. 14′ 30″
 – published by Donemus preview

Two Rossetti songs for mixed choir (1994)
dedicated to Daniel Reuss and Vocaal Ensemble Utrechtse Studenten
commissioned by and with financial support from the ‘Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst’
text: The Woodspurge and Silent noon by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
 – premiere: …..
 – duration: ca. 10′
 – published by Donemus preview

Butterfly (1990)
instrumentation: mixed choir and wind quintet
commissioned by Stichting het Velper Bach Ensemble
text: D.H.Lawrence
 – premiere: …..
 – duration: ca. 8′
 – published by Donemus preview