On April 4 a new composition and a new instrument by researcher Aart Strootman will see the light of day at the 55th edition of Spring Festival 2022, presented by the Royal Conservatoire's Composition department.
Redefining the limitations of the electric guitar. That is the key focus of composer and instrument builder Aart Strootman's research at ACPA Leiden University. Not the guitar should be questioned but the instrumentalist playing it, always willing to accept the challenge together with, or via, a guitar maker. Sonic challenges given by composers can, via the performer, result in a variety of modifications to the instrument.
For this elaborate research Strootman composes music pieces that allow him to redefine these limits. He also looks into existing modified instruments and recreates those. This led him to rebuilding a diamond marimba, designed in the 1950s by Harry Partch. To enhance its qualities he added a large set of tubular bells, tuned accordingly. For the Spring Festival 2022 of the Royal Conservatoire a new composition and the new instrument -which he is investigating together with a percussion student- will premiere on April 4, performed by The Royal Conservatoire's Ensemble Academy. This composition is a first outcome of his research which Strootman is doing at the Royal Conservatoire and has common ground with his research at ACPA, Leiden University.
Spring Festival 2022
The Royal Conservatoire's Ensemble Academy will be performing compositions by teachers Calliope Tsoupaki, Aart Strootman and Martijn Padding. The close collaboration between students of the Royal Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Art will be represented by a theatrical concert in Korzo, with singers and young composers coming together for a programme comprised entirely of works for solo voice with accompaniment and for vocal ensemble. Under the watchful eye of Slagwerk Den Haag, percussionists and composers will be working in teams on a new Konstrukt programme with the focus on experimentation and the search for new instruments.
4 April - 8 April Amare, The Hague
More info here.
