Oorkaan Ensemble is the station and train ensemble of the New Music NOW Express

AMSTERDAM - Early in the morning on Saturday, June 15, on Composer's Day, the Composer's Day will depart from Amsterdam Central Station. New Music NOW Express with on board the Oorkaan Ensemble for a day-long concert marathon across the Netherlands. Audiences can attend live performances on the train and at stations. The train travels from Amsterdam to Almere, Zwolle, Arnhem, Den Bosch and final station Utrecht.

During this concert marathon, two new compositions written especially for the Oorkaan Ensemble will have their world premiere: On(e) Track of Composer of the Fatherland Anne-Maartje Lemereis and You are here By Ivo van Emmerik.

Importance of new music

For the unique composition of the Oorkaan Ensemble, no repertoire existed at first, says Michele Mazzini, (bass) clarinetist and house composer From the Oorkaan Ensemble: "The sound we're releasing now didn't exist before we came together. We have to build everything we play from the ground up. Although we are technically a complex ensemble, we can play a wide range of musical genres. We play arrangements of existing compositions as well as a huge variety of new musical styles. We are very versatile.

Our involvement in Composer's Day, which highlights and promotes the works and ideas of composers in our area, is essential to our future as an ensemble. It also helps us discover our own ideas, paths and musical core.”

Anne-Maartje Lemereis - On(e) Track

Lemereis on her composition for the Oorkaan Ensemble:

“Each city we visit has a city composer who has written a special city song. In my composition, I incorporated snippets of those city songs so that we get an overview of the different sounds of each city. I know that the musicians of the Oorkaan Ensemble are flexible and dare to move creatively within the music. That gave me the freedom to think out this concept and adjust the music accordingly. Extra special: on June 15, the very first Children's Composer of the Fatherland will be announced and this very young composer also created part of the composition!

On(e) Track is written for Celtic harp, clarinet, accordion, finger cymbals and big drum and will be premiered at the opening concert of the Day of the Composer at 8:30 a.m. on Amsterdam Central IJ-Boulevard.

Ivo van Emmerik - You are here

Van Emmerik on his composition for the Oorkaan Ensemble:
“When traveling by train to an unfamiliar city, you often find a map in front of the station with a red circle that says "You are here. This short song (set to a poem by Michèle Métail) is an invitation to enter the city from that point and wander around the "maze of tangled memories" that a city usually is. The instruments of the Oorkaan Ensemble, together with the voice of Arturo den Hartog, resemble a group of travelers from all corners of the world who - having just arrived - are about to do exactly that, each in his own way enriching the city.”

You are here is written for countertenor, clarinet, Celtic harp, bendir and bayan and will be premiered on the Stationsplein in Zwolle.