News

Earhart for Electra

Amelia Earhart, 1928October 2009 | Earhart is the first of two compositions about early female aviators. Earhart is musically linked to speech, drenched in history and results in highly pulsating stretch polyphony.

Ghost Wall for Brisk Recorder Quartet

February 2009 | Ghost Wall, Vrolijk's new composition for Brisk Recorder Quartet contains the voice of Johannette Zomer.

Premiere Sound of Wax cancelled

January 2009 | Orkest de Volharding has lost its funding. Because of this the announced premiere of Sound of Wax on March 5, 2009 is cancelled.

Johannette Zomer contibutes her voice

November 2008 | Soprano Johannette Zomer recorded two 16th century songs to serve as a basis for the NFPK+ commission for Brisk Recorder Quartet Amsterdam.

Sound of Wax for Orkest de Volharding

September 2008 | Inspired by some old recordings Vrolijk composed Sound of Wax for Orkest de Volharding. Sound of Wax has been commissioned by the NFPK+.

VE-Dances on Dutch Touch

April 2008 | On June 22, 2008 Gertie Bruin presents his solo CD Dutch Touch with solo works for accordion by Dutch composers.

Charlie Charlie on stage

Barbara Kozelj as Margaretha Marketing
(Photo: Hans Hijmering)November 2007 | After an intense period of collaborating work with visual artist and director Bart Visser and with librettist Lex Bohlmeijer, Charlie Charlie premiered successfully during November Music in De Verkadefabriek in Den Bosch on November 16.

Charlie Charlie into production

May 2007 | Charlie Charlie, a documentary in music about the dream behind the zeppelin Hindenburg is leaving the planning phase and enters the production stage. Based on original archive materials, Charlie Charlie will be first performed as part of November Music in Den Bosch and then tour the Netherlands.

Squawk Box dedicated to the Amstel Quartet

Mar 2007 | I added Squawk Box, Vrolijk's new composition dedicated to the Amstel Quartet. Squawk Box has a soundtrack added to it, based on aviation recordings. It is commissioned by the Fund for the Creation of Music for the Amstel Quartet and will be premiered in New York.

Upcoming events

July 21, 2010
Lachrymae
Jos van der Kooy
International Organ Festival Haarlem
Grote of Sint-Bavokerk
Haarlem

Who is afraid of tonal music

Many people believe that contemporary music is about putting as many dissonances in a unit of time as possible. Some contemporary composers think that contemporary tonal music is lazy composing.

They are wrong!

Good contemporary classical music is not about consonance or dissonance but about reaching out and getting a message or feeling across to your public. It has a link to its own time and to society as a whole. And it has the guts to be linked to tradition, to be sentimental, to be consonant and dissonant with meaning and be intellectual at the same time.