hollandfestival

ELECTRO SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA

eleCtRo sYMPhoniC oRChestRaColin Benders

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info Context

date & starting time Sat 22 June 2019, 9 pm

venue Het Concertgebouw

running time 1 hour 20 minutesno interval

introduction by Akim Moiseenkov8.15 pm

afterpartyAfter the performance, HF Young organ-izes an afterparty in co-operation with Entrée, the club for visitors under 35 of The Royal Concertgebouw and The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

During the afterparty in the Spiegelzaal, there will be performances by DJ Luuk Buys and The Smartphone Orchestra, the only orchestra where the audience takes centre stage.

CRedits

musicColin Benders

performed byColin BendersNils DavidseMaarten Vos

world premiere 22 June 2019Holland Festival, Amsterdam

websiteColin Benders

‘I want to redefine what a classic concert hall is and does. What is an orchestra precisely? Why are instruments amplified? And it’s also massively cool to play at such a legendary venue.’   Those are the words of Dutch composer and multi-instrumen-talist Colin Benders. Benders presented his Electro Symphonic Orchestra to the public for the first time at Holland Festival 2018. Instead of orchestral members each with their own instrument, dozens of modular synthesizers were set up on the stage of The Concertgebouw Recital Hall. Each with its own sound, timbre and audio source. Benders himself stood in front and ‘conducted’ his electronic orchestra through a seven-hour marathon from behind a desk full of knobs and slides. Improvising and shunning the clichés of techno he demonstrated his invention’s capabilities: dissolving the boundaries between contemporary and electronic music.

about eleCtRo sYMPhoniC oRChestRa

 This successful pilot in The Concertgebouw Recital Hall was, in Benders’ own words, ‘a tool for discovering the possibilities of such an orchestra’. The next step was to write a composition worthy of his Electro Symphonic Orchestra and to perform it. As Kyteman, Benders proved himself ten years ago as an in-novator. His hip-hop orchestra put out a sound that had never previously existed, achieving great success. He showed courage in stopping at the peak of this success and completely changing course, swapping his trumpet for the analogue modular synthe-sizer and transitioning to electronic music. Again with success. He has since appeared at various big dance festivals, such as ADE and Awakenings. 

You can’t escape your true nature. Benders began to think about an orchestra again. This time consisting of modular synthesizers. In 2018 it was time: he stood in The Concertgebouw with his syn-thesizer orchestra. Once again Benders proved himself an innova-tor, making a musical journey through different tones, sounds and dynamics over the course of his many hours long session. During this session he gained a great deal of experience with the new set of instruments. Benders: ‘When two sounds physically clash in the hall, it produces a completely different result from when you first mix them electronically.’ In his composition Electro Symphonic Orchestra Colin Benders breaks open the wall of sound so common in electronic concerts (think of the banana-shaped loudspeakers you see at most of the larger events). By setting up (the sound sources of) his synthesizers with plenty of space, Colin Benders makes electronic music with the transparency, dynamism and expressivity of a classic sympho-ny orchestra. Benders performs in the same festival that has Karlheinz Stockhausen’s aus LICHT on the programme. Stockhausen is one of the founding fathers of electronic music. He experimented more than fifty years ago with spatial arrangements and other ways of giving electronics a place in the musical vocabulary. Colin Benders and his Electro Symphonic Orchestra operate in precisely that area.

Colin Benders (1986), previously also known as Kyteman, is a Dutch composer and multi-instrumentalist. He studied the trumpet at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and one of his teachers there was Eric Vloeimans. His debut album The Hermit Sessions, in which he played all the parts himself, appeared in 2009. He went on tour with Kyteman’s Hip-Hop Orchestra. The name was later changed to The Kyteman Orchestra, and a second album was produced under that title. Benders and his orchestra played several times at the festivals Oerol, North Sea Jazz, Lowlands and Pinkpop. The orchestra won the Buma Cultuur Pop Award in 2009. Benders played and toured with Relax, Krezip, Voicst, Wouter Hamel, C-mon & Kypski and Sting, among others. He brought out the album Kytecrash (2011) with Eric Vloeimans. In 2014 he opened the doors of Kytopia in the former premises of Tivoli in Utrecht. From this studio, which this year moved to a temporary place in Den Dolder, he has since worked in his own name on a new oeuvre centred on the modular synthesizer. Long nocturnal jam sessions are streamed live on his web-site. He has appeared at various dance festivals, including performances with T. Raumschmiere and others. In 2018 he debuted at Holland Festival with the first version of Electro Symphonic Orchestra.

Maarten Vos (1987) is a Dutch cellist, com-poser and producer. He combines the old, traditional sound of his cello with various electronic techniques such as his own build modular synthesizer. Vos’ goal is to fuse these two worlds into a unique whole with

a organic result. Vos collaborated with art-ists from various disciplines such as music, dance and film. He has a duo with multi-in-strumentalist Greg Haines, played with the contemporary ensemble Asko|Schönberg and worked as a musician, producer and composer with Alex Smoke, Julianna Barwick, Stimming, Joep Beving, Remy Van Kesteren, Colin Benders and others. He composed music for various contempo-rary dance companies like Conny Janssen Danst and scored music for film. Vos cur-rently works from his studio in Kytopia. Nils Davidse graduated from the Conservatory of Utrecht for Piano with a Bachelor of Music with Honours. He started out with a passion for jazzpiano, by the time he graduated he fell in love with synthesizers and composition. He is currently active as a sound artist, sound-designer and musician. Together with Elise ’t Hart (fine art) he makes sound art installations for Art Rotterdam, November Music, Dortdyart and various other exposi-tions. Next year Nils will continue his study at the sonology department at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague.

about the aRtists

fRiendsEvery year the Holland Festival brings world class international performing arts to Amsterdam. The festival is staged at thea-tres, concerts halls and unexpected venues throughout the city. Visitors meet in a welcoming and festive atmosphere and always have something to talk about: the artist’ high-profile and innova-tive work and the irresistible magic of theatre and music.

The Holland Festival cannot be made without the support of private donors. Friends are the heart of the festival and their gen-erous support helps the festival to create an exciting programme each year. We are delighted to be able to present this perfor-mance with support from the Friends of the Holland Festival.

Annet Lekkerkerker,general director Holland Festival

holland festival 2019general directorAnnet Lekkerkerker

supervisory boardMartijn Sanders, chairman Gert-Jan van den Bergh Mavis CarrilhoAstrid HelstoneJet de RanitzTom de Swaan

The Holland Festival cannot be made without the support of funding institutions, private funds, corporate sponsors and individuals.

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governmental support

production partner

funds, sponsors and institutions

patron

holland festival 2019general directorAnnet Lekkerkerker

supervisory boardMartijn Sanders, chairman Gert-Jan van den Bergh Mavis CarrilhoAstrid HelstoneJet de RanitzTom de Swaan

The Holland Festival cannot be made without the support of funding institutions, private funds, corporate sponsors and individuals.

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board of governorsThe generous, multi-year support of the Governors not only con-sists of a financial component. With their expertise, active involve-ment and network they contribute significantly to the success of the Holland Festival.

Ronald Bax and Frank Lunenburg, G.J. van den Bergh and C. van den Bergh-Raat, Leni Boeren, Jéhan van Dijk, Bernard and Ineke Dijkhuizen, Jeroen Fleming, A. Fock, H.J. ten Have and G.C. de Rooij, J. Kat and B. Johnson, Ton and Maya Meijer-Bergmans, Françoise van Rappard-Wanninkhof, M. Sanders, Tom de Swaan, Elise Wessels-van Houdt

Governors who wish to remain anonymous.

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beschermersM. Appeldoorn, Lodewijk Baljon and Ineke Hellingman, Maarten Biermans and Helena Verhagen, S. Brada, Frans and Dorry Cladder-van Haersolte, J. Docter and E. van Luijk, Huub A. Doek, L. Dommering-van Rongen, E. Granpré Moliere, M. Grotenhuis,S. Haringa, B. Heijse and A.M. Heijse-Verbeek, J. Houwert, W. andJ. Jansen-Straver, R. Katwijk, R. Kupers and H. van Eeghen, Monique Laenen and Titus Darley, A. van der Linden-Taverne, F. Mulder, Adriaan and Glenda Nühn-Morris, G. van Oenen, Marinus Pannevis and Caroline Polak, H. Pinkster, Pim and Antoinette Polak, H. Sauerwein, Lisette Schuitemaker and Jos van Merendonk, C.W.M. Schunck, A.N. Stoop and S. Hazelhoff, Wolbert and Barbara Vroom, P. Wakkie, Martine Willekens, O.L.O. and Tineke de Witt Wijnen-Jansen Schoonhoven

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begunstigersB. Amesz, A. van de Beek en S. van Basten Batenburg, Ellen Birnie, Co Bleeker*, Jasper Bode, K. Bodon, Jan Bouws, E. Bracht, W.L.J. Bröcker, F. van den Broek, G. Bromberger, D. de Bruijn, G. van Capelleveen, P.M. Op de Coul, M. Daamen, J. Dekker, M. Doorman, Sylvia Dornseiffer, Chr. van Eeghen*, Ch. Engeler*, E.L. Eshuis*, Sandra Geisler, Susan Gloudemans, E. de Graaff Van Meeteren,F. Grimmelikhuizen D. Grobbe, Annelies Heidstra and Renze Hasper J. Hennephof, G. van Heteren, L. van Heteren, S. Hodes, J. Hopman*, J. Houtman, E. Hummelen, Wendy van Ierschot, Yolanda Jansen, P. Jochems, Jan de Kater, Ytha Kempkes,J. Keukens, E. Kocken, Bas Köhler, A. Ladan, M. Le Poole,M. Leenaers, K. Leering, M. Levenbach, T. Liefaard, A. Ligeon,T. Lodder, R. Mackenzie, D. van der Meer, E. van der Meer-Blok,A. de Meijere, E. Merkx, Jaap Mulders, H. Nagtegaal, La Nube, Kay Bing Oen*, E. Overkamp and A. Verhoog, P. Price, F. Racké,H. Ramaker, J. Rammeloo, Wessel Reinink, M. Roozen,A. Schneider, H. Schnitzler, G. Scholten, Joanne Schouten,R.W. Siemers and I. Janssen, P. Smit, G. Smits, A. Sonnen,W. Sorgdrager and F. Lekkerkerker, K. Spanjer, Reinout Steenhuizen, Farid Tabarki, P.-M. H.-L. Tegelaar, C. Teulings,H. Tjeenk Willink, A. Tjoa, M. Tjoe-Nij, Y. Tomberg, Kurt Tschenett en Sasha Brunsmann, H. van der Veen, M.T.F. Vencken, A. van Vliet, R. Vogelenzang, M.M. de Vos van Steenwijk, A. Wertheim,M. Witter, M. van Wulfften Palthe, M. Yazdanbakhsh, P. van der Zant, M.J. Zomer, P. van Zwieten and N. Aarnink

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* extra contribution

jonge begunstigersHelene Bakker, Aram Balian, Ilonka van den Bercken, Femke Blokhuis, Quirijn Bongaerts, Jonne ter Braak, Dirk Dekker, Matthijs Geneste, Hagar Heijmans, Ric van Holthe tot Echten, Brendon Humble, Jort van Jaarsveld, Aron Kovacs, Judith Lekkerkerker, Gustavo López, Pieter van der Meché, Frans Muller, Boris van Overbeeke, Jill Pisters, Menzo Reinders, Peter Ruys, Guus Schaepman, Eerke Steller, David van Traa, Rosanne Thesing en Melle Kromhout, Frank Uffen, Frank Verschoor, Tristen Vreugdenhil, Lonneke van der Waa.

Jonge Begunstigers who wish to remain anonymous.

liefhebbersAll 629 Liefhebbers.

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textVincent

translationAnna Asbury

text editorKaren Welling design thonik

lay-out Mark Drillich, Erna Theys

photography© Janiek Dam

© Holland Festival, 2019 No part of this publication may be reproduced and/or published by any means whatsoever without the prior written permission of the Holland Festival.