From next week on, rehearsals for the Mystical and Minimal concert series start, and the project is already living throughout the conservatoire: composition students are finishing their symphonic piece, the orchestra is getting ready for a double bill. And conductor Ryan Bancroft is enjoying his return to Amsterdam for now: 'I can plug back into the good vibe of the conservatoire and Amsterdam with ease, it's very nice.'

'Good violinist,' Ryan murmurs, as we walk past the rehearsal rooms on the eighth floor. 'What I always loved about studying here is that your studies don't stop at the front door. I was always in the Concertgebouw, the Muziekgebouw and the rest of the Netherlands to showcase music.' Openness is a big part of the conservatoire's culture. Openness to the repertoire that is rarely played, and to enabling the instrumentation for that repertoire needs: 'Every orchestra has a different culture, different individuals and different needs. So every orchestra needs different work.'

But there was also openness towards new work: not only works by known composers are on the programme, but composition students Béla Braack and Jasmine Karimova also composed the piece Growth for this project. Ryan: 'There is something very special about preparing a piece for performance; not all composers get that chance. In this case, we got a lot of rehearsal time, of which we can spend a lot of on the new work.' 

Béla Braack and Jasmine Karimova both wrote parts for the piece Growth. But their work is also the result of great collaboration with their teachers, such as the late Wim Henderickx. 'The last melody, I dreamt up after Wim's death. I came up with a funeral march that you hear in the horn section,' Béla says. Wim Henderickx was a great inspiration for both of them: 'His way of teaching was very physical, he always told me: "Imagine where the drums are, where the orchestra is..." That helped a lot when writing the piece.'

'There's something fantastic about putting a downbeat on a piece that's never been performed before,' Ryan explains, 'You're really making history in that moment and sharing it with so many others is really special.

About the project 
Mystic and Minimal is a project by the CvA Symphony Orchestra. This year, the orchestra performs under the baton of American conductor Ryan Bancroft. The orchestra will perform The Unanswered Question by Ives; the Adagio from Symphony No 10 by Mahler; Harmonielehre by Adams; and the world premiere of Growth, a symphonic poem, by CvA students Béla Braack and Jasmine Karimova. Find more information at consam.nl/symphonyorchestra. 

Agenda
vr 31 maart - 20.15 uur Muziekgebouw Eindhoven
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za 1 april - 16.00 uur Stadsgehoorzaal Leiden
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zo 2 april - 15.00 uur Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
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