What happens when you immerse children in Year 5 and 6 in music and allow them to create and perform their own compositions? We have already witnessed the exciting results of the musical project weeks organised by AMUZ and De Veerman many times.

Inspired by the concert programme Turcaria by Les Esprits Animaux, the children and the three musicians who led the project explored the possibilities of Baroque music from the West and music from the Middle East. You will see and hear the results of their musical journey and creative process during this presentation.

16 October, 2015 14:00 -- amuz

The Ottoman delegations visit to France in 1669 marked the beginning of Europes fascination with the Orient. Ottoman, Persian and Arab themes flourished in literature, drama and painting. Novels, ballets and operas introduced Oriental characters with highly imaginative costumes and scenery. Turcaria is a fascinating whirlwind of a voyage to discover the East through the eyes and ears of 17th and 18th century European composers.

Les Esprits Animaux, founded in 2009, attracted attention at the International Young Artists Presentation (IYAP) by AMUZ and Musica in 2011 as a promising ensemble. Their highly dynamic concerts bring the age-old stories behind the music into the 21st century with great vitality, energy, virtuosity and imagination. Let your ears and soul be swept up by this music that was composed not merely to be heard, but to create an experience.

18 October, 2015 15:00 -- amuz

After the death of Johann Christian Bach in 1782, Haydns music dominated the London concert scene. There was hardly a concert to be found that did not include his work. During his stay in the metropolis at the end of the 18th century, he met the exceptionally talented pianist Therese Jansen Bartolozzi and dedicated his London Sonatas no. 50 and 51 to her. Rumour even has it that Haydn delayed publication so that Therese could give exclusive performances of the pieces.

Over the last thirty years, Ronald Brautigam has built up a reputation as one of the Netherlands greatest and most versatile musicians. His interpretations of classic Viennese repertoire on authentic instruments have gained international fame. Brautigams catalogue on the Swedish CD label BIS now includes more than sixty CDs, including the widely acclaimed recordings of Haydn and Mozarts complete works for piano. If you still need to be convinced, it is time to come and experience the magic of this leading soloist live at AMUZ.

25 October, 2015 15:00 -- amuz

In 2015, AMUZ and Huelgas Ensemble pay homage to the Flemish polyphonist Cipriano de Rore, who was born 500 years ago this year. If there is a catalogue of works that genuinely deserves the label Renaissance, it must surely be the oeuvre of Cipriano de Rore. Both his thorough knowledge of ancient culture and literature and his often idiosyncratic, startling and revelatory compositions, in combination with the ceremonial atmosphere of many works, make de Rore the musical Erasmus of the 16th century. Cipriano gave the singers of his time a new task: profound identification with the texts, whether they were in Latin, Italian or French.

27 October, 2015 21:00 -- amuz

The focal point of this concert is the Requiem that Gavin Bryars (1943) wrote for his friend and colleague Bill Cadman, who was killed in the Lockerbie disaster in 1988. Bryars belongs to a generation of European composers who began to add new dimensions to American minimalism from the 1970s onwards when it came across the Atlantic. An essential element was the connection with the composers own European tradition. This concert literally places Bryars Requiem alongside some of its older European relations, including the sober Gregorian mass for the dead and the stately organum style of the 13th-century ars antiqua. The entire concert is bathed in slow emotion; paradoxically, an endless series of tiny movements generate a weighty stillness. The works on the programme may not be well known, but the power and energy of the music is incontestable.

29 October, 2015 21:00 -- amuz

Wim Henderickx has built up a consistent oeuvre since his first works written in the 1980s. Rhythmic drive and passages of ecstasy are alternated sensitively with comforting meditation and a preoccupation with sound itself. It is an oeuvre in which exotic percussion and familiar Western instruments go hand in hand. But what were Henderickx own influences and how does his work resonate in the music of todays new generation?

A fragment from Messiaens poignant Quatuor pour la fin du temps, the nostalgic oeuvre of Toru Takemitsu, bathed in autumn colours, and the eccentric, meditative work of Giacinto Scelsi reflect Henderickx sources of inspiration. deCompagnie and HERMESensemble will also play three pieces by younger composers and former students of Henderickx: Bram Van Camp, Hanne Deneire and Mathias Coppens.

07 November, 2015 21:00 -- amuz