Summer of 2024

The summer weeks of 2024 are almost over, and they have been a whirlwind of very exciting and enervating activity.  The first week found all three of us at Jonge Strijkers summer camp at Nyenrode Business University, in which I led the first edition of the new youngest group: Kids.  They were simply lovely and it was as if they had been at every previous edition as well.  They blended in splendidly, and added a positive and enthusiast vibe that infected the other groups as well.
A week of repose and preparation (and house repairs) ensued, and that flung me into the following weeks of activity:  a tour with Amsterdam Baroque to the Iteneraire Baroque Festival singing St John Passion, a week of rehearsals conducting the Vocaal Ensemble Tien in a small luxurious castle in the Ardennes, a week of Buitenkunst Drenthe, and finally the current week of vacation in the Alps.  

I just want to take a little bit of time to elaborate upon Buitenkunst. Buitenkunst has always been a bizarre place which can be fantastic, exhausting, frustrating, energising, mind-blowing, and fascinating.  I have been working there off and on as a conductor for singing workshops since 2009. It is a very welcome job for the summer months, and doesn't have any effect on one's career in a positive or negative way.  It is so entirely itself, that working there cannot put one in any box, and cannot upgrade or downgrade a career path.  

There have been some years in which I have been absolutely stunned by the amount of creativity that amasses there.  The product can be nothing at all, but it can also be surprisingly overwhelming, delightful.  Nothing can be really planned beforehand. One doesn't know which and how many participants will chose one's program.  The knowledge that they bring with them is also unknown.  Of course, many days are experimental flops. However, many days are also huge successes, considering that all involved, with the exception of the workshop leader,  are amateurs. 

This year was different than before.  My music colleagues and I worked well and respectfully with each other.  There was a new theater teacher specialising in puppet theater, and she and I (in collaboration with three others) created two succesful projects that I hope I won't forget for a long while.  The first was totally spontaneous.  It was chance that she was doing something with Japanese puppets, and I was offering a Japanese song on the same day (with choreography). We created a collaboration with each of our 12 member groups, and were able to perform it in the evening.  One of my participants came to me on the last day, and told me that it was possibly her favorite workshop of the week.  Again, completely unexpected.  

On the last day, we (5 teachers) created a mega collaboration with an intro with dance and choir with snippets from Jurassic Park, followed by an orchestral and choral version of the main theme from Jurassic Park, accompanied by a massive puppet show of half human, half dinosaur puppets running through the field and audience.  It was a tremendous success, and cemented the new friendship between me and Cat (puppet theater teacher).  

Two special side notes:  one of the young women in my orchestra doesn't read music and wanted to join anyways.  I constructed a sort of timpani part with two bass drums from two drumsets, and put a cymbal in between.  She totally rocked the "timpani" part, and was absolutely fantastic on the suspended cymbal.  She learned how to warm it up during a 2 measure buildup and crashed it at exactly the right moment 2 times during the piece.  She is absolutely a born percussionist.  I sincerely hope that she finds a way to continu.  The second instance was a bassist that also played in the orchestra.  He told me that he had NEVER played in orchestra, and that he just loved the experience.  If anything makes me happy, it is those two wonderful people.  I don't need to stand in front of the Concertgebouw to be happy.  Give me a mumble jumble orchestra in a forest with these type of people, along side an amazing collaboration, and that is exactly what brings me joy.  Keep on making music!

I finally came away from Buitenkunst with the feeling:  yes, I can't wait until next year.  Let's keep the flame of creativity and collaboration alive.