Muziekzomer & Tour 2021

The National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands (NJO) has its summer home base in the Muziekzomer ('Music Summer') Gelderland and has performed several times in different makeups during this annual summer festival of the NJO. We are very happy that we can look back on a great festival and tour, with no fewer than four orchestral projects by the NJO. The musicians who were to play during last year's canceled edition were eager to get started this year, and they did so with full dedication.

NJO Symphony Orchestra
'Naar een nieuwe wereld' ('To a new world') was the symphonic programme of the NJO led by the French conductor Alexandre Bloch. The longing for a free world was abundantly evident in this programme, for which the members of the orchestra were allowed to reunite for the first time in a long time. Via the urge for freedom from the well-known West Side Story, the young talented conservatoire students from the orchestra guided their listeners in The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Theater Orpheus in Apeldoorn to Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite, a work which the composer said had 'to do with youth and spring, with optimism and hope'. The closing was Dvorák's Symphony No. 9, which he named 'From the New World' because he wrote it during his stay in the United States. The audience had trouble sitting still during all the swinging passages in this programme!

Photos NJO in Theater Orpheus Apeldoorn: Veerle Bastiaanssen
Photos NJO in The Concertgebouw Amsterdam: Sarah Wijzenbeek

NJO Brass Ensemble
The NJO Brass Ensemble had seventeen musicians, led by conductor Jasper de Waal. The ensemble consisted of four horns, four trumpets, two trombones, a bass trombone, two euphoniums, two tubas, a timpani player and a percussionist.

For this Muziekzomer, the NJO Brass Ensemble has entered into a special collaboration with choreographer and director Vincent Michels and acrobatic theater company Corpus Acrobatics, resulting in the performance Sirene. The concerts were performed (weather permitting) on and around the water and also revolved around water, how we deal with our lakes and seas and with the world around us. Music, acrobatics and costumes against the background of fairytale locations such as the pond at Cannenburch Castle made this a show suitable for the whole family. Check out the trailer we made especially for this performance below, plus of course some photos.

Photos: Coen Wouters

NJO Tuba Quartet
The four musicians of the NJO Tuba Quartet all also played in the NJO Brass Ensemble. The quartet consisted of two tubas and two euphoniums, a special combination of instruments that is not often found. Not much repertoire has been written for it, but these brass players knew what to do with it and played a programme in which the special sound of the low brass played the leading role. In addition to some original works for this composition of instruments, they also brought various arrangements ranging from Piazzolla to Tchaikovsky to two green locations: the Ermelose Schaapskooi (sheepfold) and the former laundry De IJsselstroom, in the floodplains of the river IJssel near Zutphen.

Photos: May van Hal

NJO Tim Kliphuis Ensemble
Violinist and king of gypsy jazz Tim Kliphuis, together with his trio, already visited the NJO in 2016 and that was a great success. Reason enough to ask him back! This time he coached an ensemble of seven wind players, thirteen strings and a harp, solo and while playing the violin. With these musicians he worked towards performances without regulations, boxes or predetermined programme, in which improvisation was central and classical, jazz and gypsy went hand in hand. Kliphuis not only challenged the classically trained NJO musicians to go off the beaten track, but also took the audience on this exciting musical journey in the City Hall in Arnhem, Theater Veluvine in Nunspeet and at the stables of Paleis Het Loo in Apeldoorn.

Photos: Coen Wouters

Many thanks to all who made this possible!
We would like to thank all those involved, state support, funds, sponsors and partners who have made these projects possible: Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie, Provincie Gelderland, Gemeente Apeldoorn, Gemeente Arnhem, European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO), MusXchange, Creative Europe Programme van de Europese Unie, European Festivals Association, Theater & Congres Orpheus, Boon Accountants Belastingadviseurs, Stayokay, NST Science Well Written, De Notarissen Van Naam, Van den Broek Lohman Fonds Nunspeet, Stichting de Weille Ogier and Stichting Vrienden van het NJO.

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