I look back on my week in Macau, China, with great satisfaction. Warmly welcomed by conductor Hugo Loi and Piu, Gary, and Kelly from the production team, it was an amazing week!
The 40-minute live version of Music for Wiek for saxophone orchestra and percussion septet was performed twice by the Macau Band Directors Association Saxophone Ensemble.
And wow, these often very young musicians were incredible. Extremely well-prepared and with immense focus and discipline, they lifted Music for Wiek to great heights under Hugo’s direction on both nights. A huge thank you for that!
A professional video recording will be released soon, so keep an eye on this page.
I traveled with a grant from the Performing Arts Fund NL to Macao to attend both shows. On February 9 I presented a lecture Back to the Groove - Minimal Music and Beyond,
a short history of the background and highlights of Minimal Music up to today.
Music for Wiek was commissioned in 2009 by Boukje Schweigman for the location-based performance by Schweigman&.
Organized by Macau Band Directors Association
Sponsored by Macau SAR Government Cultural Development Fund
Travel Grant by Performing Arts Fund NL
Acknowledgments: Macau Cultural Affairs Bureau, Macau Cultural Centre Venue Rental Discount
THE DUTCH LIVE VERSION
PRESS
"Breathtakingly beautiful.... Enchanting, compelling, inescapable....Driving rhythms, almost hallucinatory repetition - so beautiful"
"All the senses open up to the layer that is most difficult to reach - that of mysticism"
"Wiek is a magical ode to the cyclic movement"
"What keeps on is shivering about so much beauty"
THE STUDIO ALBUM
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