I’m jetlagged, excited, and dehydrated. After considerable delays flying in to Amsterdam, including two landings in Dubai (a 55 hour trip in total!), my trip back was (thankfully) uneventful, and I have now returned safely home to Sydney in a record 22 hours. Virtually time travel by comparison!
My week at the 20th Young Composers Meeting in Apeldoorn was rapturously awesome. Orkest de ereprijs and mezzo soprano, Enikő Gősi, are a mind-blowingly accomplished and enthusiastic group of musicians, and conductor Rob Vermulen is one of the hardest working, and most thoughtful conductors I’ve worked with. It was a real pleasure to have ‘Cabbages and Kings’ rehearsed and performed by the ensemble and Enikő during the week, feel their groove and energy, and to have lessons with senior composers Martijn Padding, Richard Ayres, Ed Bennet and Anna Meredith. As noted by young composer, Darragh Kearns-Hayes, during the event, orkest de ereprijs are entirely self-sufficient in production; with flutist, Marije van den Berg, doubling as photographer; horn player, Jeroen van Dijk, as sound technican; and trumpeter, Sjoerd Pauw, as Twitter guru. Impressive!
Throughout the week, I heard fifteen diverse pieces from fifteen lovely people from all around the globe. The participants, and my new friends, were: Alexander Leon (Ecuador), Anna Murray (Ireland), Luke Lewis (Wales), Andrew Crossley (Mexico), Andrew Batt-Rawden (Australia), Shuying Li (China/USA), Georgi Sztojanov (Hungary), Aftab Darvishi (Iran), Darragh Kearns-Hayes (Ireland), Krists Auznieks (Latvia), Ethan Braun (USA), Emily Koh (Singapore/USA), and Sebastian Androne (Romania).
9 of us, during our day off in Utrecht!
I’m delighted to announce that I was awarded first place and commissioned to write a new work for orkest de ereprijs for their next concert season. Sonja Mutic (Serbia) was awarded second place, a commission for the Dutch National Youth Orchestra, and the third prize was awarded to Frédéric Le Bel (Canada), a commission for chambermusic masterclass, Apeldoorn.
Stand by for audio/video postings of the piece!