Aspasia Nasopoulou: “We are delighted with the invitation to play in The Hague.”
Composer and pianist Aspasia Nasopoulou is artistic director of Orkest De Ereprijs, the new music ensemble in the east of The Netherlands. During Festival Dag in de Branding, the ensemble presents six recent pieces from the Ereprijs repertoire, selected in collaboration with guest curator Jan-Peter de Graaff. Aspasia: “For Festival Dag in de Branding we have put together a special attention span, with a number of pieces in the spotlight.”
What is it like for Orkest de Ereprijs to perform during Festival Dag in de Branding?
‘Very welcome, we are delighted with the invitation. De Ereprijs is the new music ensemble for the east of the country, and we don’t often play in The Hague. The festival stands for things that we also stand for: new music, a pluralistic starting point, diverse aesthetics. So it fits well.’
The saxophone is a common thread throughout this festival edition, but that is nothing new for Orkest de Ereprijs, right?
‘That’s right, we always have two saxophones in our line-up. They play in all the pieces on the programme and they are both very present, I can promise you! That applies most to the work of Pete Harden, which has a beautiful and clear saxophone moment: Erik-Jan de With plays a line that immediately sticks in your head. We do a lot of educational projects and perform at secondary schools, we have often played Pete’s piece there and it always works very well.’
What are you going to play here?
‘The concert is an anthology of the pieces that have been composed for us recently. I prefer not to call it ‘best of’, because all the composers we work with are great. But for Festival Dag in de Branding we have put together a special attention span, with a number of pieces in the spotlight. One half was written for the ‘Aardlek: urgent matters’ series, in which we create a dialogue between composers and guests from other disciplines around current themes. These are the pieces by Jesse Broekman, Thanakarn Schofield and Seung-Won Oh. The other half comes from the Museum Tour that we did last year: six composers chose an object from the permanent collection of a museum and wrote new music for it. We played those six pieces in all six museums, from the Kröller Müller to Kasteel Huis Bergh, which was very special. In The Hague we are playing the pieces by Vanessa Lann, Wilbert Bulsink and Pete Harden.’
Do the six compositions have something in common?
‘We just talked about the saxophone, but all the instruments work very hard in this programme. That is actually an interesting similarity between the pieces: no one disappears into the background, these composers all write for the entire ensemble. That ties in nicely with the starting point of De Ereprijs that all instruments are equal. Furthermore, it has become an interesting mix. Each piece was created in a very specific context, in relation to a theme or an object, but we notice that it also works well to place the compositions together. And, very importantly: all the works were written especially for us. We find it very important to cherish our connection with the composers and the pieces and also to connect them to each other. A programme like this is also an opportunity to meet each other. Some composers rarely meet each other, while meeting and exchanging are crucial for a lively music sector.’
Orkest De Ereprijs will play in the Nieuwe Kerk on October 19 at 7:00 PM. Info and tickets.