News
04/10/23 - The premiere in Oslo of Lars er LOL was a great experience and my single The Real Me (sung by my eight-year-old daughter Sophia) is out on a streaming service near you!
04/09/23 - After a trip to Copenhagen to sit in on the final mix of the music my work is done on the soundtrack to the Norwegian movie Lars er LOL. It's been a huge experience working with everyone, form the director Eirik Sæter Stordahl to local Dutch musicians Eke van Spiegel and Atie Aarts on violin and cello respectively. The trailer is out and the red carpet is the 24 September. Here's to hoping it's a success!
10/01/23 - It's a new year and with it comes a new adventure: I'm composing the music for the Norwegian movie, Lars is LOL, directed by Eirik Sæter Stordahl. Based on the book of the same name the screenplay is co-written by the book's author, Iben Akerlie and Eirik. Filming has just been completed and I'm underway with my own pre-production, coming up with themes and working on discovering the movie's sound world.
16/05/22 - I'm back in Amsterdam again after a great trip to Aarhus in Denmark where the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra performed my orchestrations of Schubert's Nachstück and Der Zwerg. It was a great success and will hopefully lead to more collaborations with the orchestra in the future. Apart from taking piano music and orchestrating it for orchestra, the arrangement game also works the other way around, going from orchestra down to a smaller group. I've just delivered a commission from Dutch NPO Radio 4 to arrange part of Hans Zimmer's score to Interstellar for two accordions for Filmmuziekweek (Film Music Week). It was a blast to work on and quite the puzzle to solve to get all of that music down into two instruments. But given the heavy use of organ in the original soundtrack the accordions were a perfect fit.
19/03/22 - Tonight I enjoyed an epic dress rehearsal at Takkelloftet at the Copenhagen Opera House where they’re getting ready to perform three Offenbach operettas next week…orchestrated with much festive enthusiasm by yours truly. Looking forward to the premiere!
18/03/22 - The first two singles of my album Harmonia are now up on digital streaming services! What The Night Sky Tells Me is a romantic evocation of the stillness and drama of the evening while A Pilgrimage is a wanderingly gentle piece, always moving towards somewhere... Both were brought to life by the amazing Johanna Bolin on cello and mixing maestro Gijs van Klooster with Zino Mikorey taking on mastering duties.
19/02/22 - Tonight was the pre-premiere of DeDæ’s dance production Ik val niet, ik dans (I don’t fall, I dance), which concludes with my piece of the same name. Even after working with the dancers and choreographer so closely it was amazing to get to see and hear the final result! What a wonderful mixture of deeply moving gestures and incredible humour!
29/09/21 - I’ve been commissioned to compose a piece for the new Duo Rozemond & Bekkers. They are an amazing duo with a twist…a violinist and accordionist with the added bonus that the violinist also sings! We’re planning on exploring the poetry of Emily Dickinson together and I look forward to taking a deep-dive into one of history’s great loners, especially in the current atmosphere of loneliness surrounding us during the Covid-19 pandemic.
04/08/21 - I’ve been commissioned to compose music for the ending of a new program by choreographer Gia van den Akker and the Dutch Eurythmy Dance Ensemble, DeDæ. This will be my first foray into the world of dance and I’m honoured to be composing the music that will bring the performance to its culmination in a piece that explores the isolation we’ve all experienced throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
09/05/21 - After having spent a lot of my recent time composing two suites (one for marimba and one for two accordions), orchestration now seems to be in the air. I recently got two commissions, one to orchestrate Clara Schumann's Three Romances for violin and piano for the Copenhagen Philharmonic and the other to orchestrate two Schubert lieder for the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. Orchestrating is one of my favourite things to do, you get to play creatively with an orchestra but the gruelling and nerve-racking work of actually composing the music has already been done for you! ;) Work is well underway and I can't wait for the concerts, not least because they'll probably be my first concerts in close to two years!
26/04/21 - The recording of Toeac's new album, Ben by Bach, is underway! First stop was Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. It went really well and I'm looking forward to jumping back into my producer role at the end of may, where the duo will be tackling my own piece, Suite Dreams, composed especially for the album.
27/02/21 - In a locked down world it was amazing to sit at the breakfast table with my family and hear Toeac give the world premiere of the first movement of my new suite for two accordions, Suite Dreams, on Dutch radio. You can find the video here.
16/11/20 - Plans have evolved in a great direction with my commission from the Dutch accordion duo, Toeac. It's now gone from being a modern re-interpreting of Bach's Air on a G String to a full Suite! And rather than taking on a specific piece, I'm using the old form of the dance suite as a starting point and doing my own thing from there. Composing is well under way and I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out in the end!
06/04/20 - I've been asked to compose a piece and take on the producer role for the Dutch accordion duo Toeac's upcoming CD release! This is going to be fun; the music on the CD will be a leap from the Baroque of Bach to contemporary composers and I'm going to try and compose a link between the two, recomposing Bach's Air on a G String for two accordions. And there are bigger plans afoot!
05/02/20 - I've been commissioned by the Danish marimba player, Anders Kann Elten, to compose a large solo piece! I've never had the opportunity to work with the marimba in anything but orchestral circumstances so this is a welcome chance to dive into the instrument on another level!
07/01/20 - The date has been set! On the 16th of January my CD, Harmonia, will be available on all the big streaming and downloading apps/sites! It will be available to pre-order on iTunes already a week beforehand :) ...in other news, I'm off to Denmark tomorrow to hear my arrangement of Madeline Myer's musical into The Devil's Apprentice Suite. Looking forward to hearing how it has turned out!
26/11/19 - It's here! After all this time I can finally reveal my debut album, Harmonia! I've just added it to SoundCloud as a sneak peek while I work on getting it distributed around the internet via Spotify, Apple Music etc.
15/11/19 - Having completed four seasons as composer-in-residence with the Copenhagen Phil it was time for something a little different... After almost two years of working on a CD of newly composed music the final masters have just been completed in Berlin by the great Zino Mikorey. It's been an incredible process that took me all the way from composing music for myself to perform, collaborating once again with the always-incredible Johanna Bolin on cello, recording the instruments, learning to program analog synths and then finally finding my dream collaborator in producer and mixer Gijs van Klooster who helped round the project out by taking the sonics to another level. I can't wait to finally share this project that combines contemporary sounds and the classical tradition in new and meaningful ways!
13/09/19 - I've been commissioned to arrange and orchestrate a suite of music from Madeline Myer's new musical The Devil's Apprentice for full orchestra! This is a new and exciting experience for me and I can't wait to dive in and bring out all the juicy details with the palette a full orchestra brings! Oh, and given the subject matter...a very fitting commission for a Friday the 13th ;)
08/01/19 - Another year and some exciting projects are coming along. I've been busy at work on a piece for accordion and wind quintet, commissioned by Bjarke Mogensen and Opus Zoo. And throughout the whole of last year I've been working on a long-standing passion project of mine; to record a CD of music delving into the possibilities of modern technology in the hands of a classical composer. The music ranges from lyrical piano and cello to dynamic analog synths and seeks to find a meaningful blend between the two worlds. I'm hoping to have it all wrapped up before the year is out!
29/03/18 - I've been commissioned to compose a piece for musicians from the Danish contemporary music ensemble, Athelas, who will play together with students from MGK in Aalborg, Denmark. The project is aimed at introducing the young musicians to new music and the process of working with professional musicians. The piece will be premiered at the OpenDays festival in Aalborg, 15 September 2018.
12/01/18 - Two years and a week after starting work on my first symphony, it has now been sent to the Copenhagen Phil! Together with that I've been busy making arrangements of two operas; first came Handel's Alcina, for the Opera Academy in Copenhagen and then Bizet's Carmen, for the Malmö Opera in Sweden. It's with a sense of relief and gratitude that these projects have been completed and sent off...now comes the anticipation of getting to hear it all come to life!
08/01/18 - I've been commissioned to compose a piece for the wind quintet Opus Zoo and accordionist Bjarke Mogensen!
26/01/17 - I have been invited to take part in a project for the European Composer & Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) where they are testing the waters with crowdfunding and new music. My idea is to make a web series about the compositional process following the creation of my first symphony, which will be premiered in March 2018, as well as introducing five other contemporary composers. You can read all about it here.
04/08/16 - I've been commissioned to compose a piece, based on H. C. Andersen's The Little Mermaid, for the soprano Frederikke Kampmann's portrait concert at the Wiener Kammeroper
02/06/16 - My orchestral piece LOGOS has been selected to be performed at the ECCO Symphony Orchestra concert in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 29 September 2016
11/03/16 - I've been commissioned to compose the music for the Danish National Broadcasting Corporation's radio drama 'Love Me Tinder', created by director Eirik Sæter Stordahl
25/11/15 - I've been commissioned by the Danish Chamber Players to compose a quintet for flute, string trio & harp for their anniversary festival in August 2016
23/04/15 - I've become the Copenhagen Phil's composer-in-residence for the next couple of seasons. On the 8th April 2016 the orchestra together with pianist Katrine Gislinge will premiere my new piano concerto that I'm busy composing! In 2018 the Copenhagen Phil will be bringing my first symphony to life!
20/09/14 - Busy at work on the Copenhagen Phil's New Years Concert. I'm arranging and composing together with Body Rhythm Factory and have just completed the night's big finish, Cycles, now available on my Music page
02/02/14 - I've been commissioned to compose an overture for the 60-year anniversary concerts of Amatørsymfonikerne, to be performed in Tivoli Concert Hall and Brønden in June
02/02/14 - Den Glemte Kvarter have commissioned me to arrange a selection of pieces from their first album, Rystet Spejl, to be played at the SPOT festival in May with the Århus Sinfonietta
09/05/13 - The Copenhagen Phil have commissioned me to arrange two of next season's '60 Minutes' concerts, one with Danish band Cody and the other with Swedish duo, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, playing together with the orchestra
31/01/13 - My trombone concerto, Cosmic Dancer, has been selected to be performed at the UNM Festival in Oslo in August!
26/09/12 - It's been a busy few months...everything from editing to recording to arranging has been taking up my time. I've just finished a concert of KISS songs arranged for a cover-band and Malmö Symphony Orchestra in Sweden and am now working on a series of arrangements for the Danish Chamber Orchestra and different pop singers. Lots of variety!
17/04/12 - I've been commissioned by the French conductor Jean Thorel to compose a piece for his ensemble for a series of concerts in Paris in 2013
17/04/12 - I've been commissioned to compose a trombone concerto for Christian Schmiedescamp and the Copenhagen Philharmonic for some concerts in March 2013. Work is underway!
11/02/12 - The latest movie that I created music for, Min Bror Karim (My Brother Karim), has just won the Robert (Danish Oscar) for best short film!
04/09/23 - After a trip to Copenhagen to sit in on the final mix of the music my work is done on the soundtrack to the Norwegian movie Lars er LOL. It's been a huge experience working with everyone, form the director Eirik Sæter Stordahl to local Dutch musicians Eke van Spiegel and Atie Aarts on violin and cello respectively. The trailer is out and the red carpet is the 24 September. Here's to hoping it's a success!
10/01/23 - It's a new year and with it comes a new adventure: I'm composing the music for the Norwegian movie, Lars is LOL, directed by Eirik Sæter Stordahl. Based on the book of the same name the screenplay is co-written by the book's author, Iben Akerlie and Eirik. Filming has just been completed and I'm underway with my own pre-production, coming up with themes and working on discovering the movie's sound world.
16/05/22 - I'm back in Amsterdam again after a great trip to Aarhus in Denmark where the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra performed my orchestrations of Schubert's Nachstück and Der Zwerg. It was a great success and will hopefully lead to more collaborations with the orchestra in the future. Apart from taking piano music and orchestrating it for orchestra, the arrangement game also works the other way around, going from orchestra down to a smaller group. I've just delivered a commission from Dutch NPO Radio 4 to arrange part of Hans Zimmer's score to Interstellar for two accordions for Filmmuziekweek (Film Music Week). It was a blast to work on and quite the puzzle to solve to get all of that music down into two instruments. But given the heavy use of organ in the original soundtrack the accordions were a perfect fit.
19/03/22 - Tonight I enjoyed an epic dress rehearsal at Takkelloftet at the Copenhagen Opera House where they’re getting ready to perform three Offenbach operettas next week…orchestrated with much festive enthusiasm by yours truly. Looking forward to the premiere!
18/03/22 - The first two singles of my album Harmonia are now up on digital streaming services! What The Night Sky Tells Me is a romantic evocation of the stillness and drama of the evening while A Pilgrimage is a wanderingly gentle piece, always moving towards somewhere... Both were brought to life by the amazing Johanna Bolin on cello and mixing maestro Gijs van Klooster with Zino Mikorey taking on mastering duties.
19/02/22 - Tonight was the pre-premiere of DeDæ’s dance production Ik val niet, ik dans (I don’t fall, I dance), which concludes with my piece of the same name. Even after working with the dancers and choreographer so closely it was amazing to get to see and hear the final result! What a wonderful mixture of deeply moving gestures and incredible humour!
29/09/21 - I’ve been commissioned to compose a piece for the new Duo Rozemond & Bekkers. They are an amazing duo with a twist…a violinist and accordionist with the added bonus that the violinist also sings! We’re planning on exploring the poetry of Emily Dickinson together and I look forward to taking a deep-dive into one of history’s great loners, especially in the current atmosphere of loneliness surrounding us during the Covid-19 pandemic.
04/08/21 - I’ve been commissioned to compose music for the ending of a new program by choreographer Gia van den Akker and the Dutch Eurythmy Dance Ensemble, DeDæ. This will be my first foray into the world of dance and I’m honoured to be composing the music that will bring the performance to its culmination in a piece that explores the isolation we’ve all experienced throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
09/05/21 - After having spent a lot of my recent time composing two suites (one for marimba and one for two accordions), orchestration now seems to be in the air. I recently got two commissions, one to orchestrate Clara Schumann's Three Romances for violin and piano for the Copenhagen Philharmonic and the other to orchestrate two Schubert lieder for the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. Orchestrating is one of my favourite things to do, you get to play creatively with an orchestra but the gruelling and nerve-racking work of actually composing the music has already been done for you! ;) Work is well underway and I can't wait for the concerts, not least because they'll probably be my first concerts in close to two years!
26/04/21 - The recording of Toeac's new album, Ben by Bach, is underway! First stop was Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. It went really well and I'm looking forward to jumping back into my producer role at the end of may, where the duo will be tackling my own piece, Suite Dreams, composed especially for the album.
27/02/21 - In a locked down world it was amazing to sit at the breakfast table with my family and hear Toeac give the world premiere of the first movement of my new suite for two accordions, Suite Dreams, on Dutch radio. You can find the video here.
16/11/20 - Plans have evolved in a great direction with my commission from the Dutch accordion duo, Toeac. It's now gone from being a modern re-interpreting of Bach's Air on a G String to a full Suite! And rather than taking on a specific piece, I'm using the old form of the dance suite as a starting point and doing my own thing from there. Composing is well under way and I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out in the end!
06/04/20 - I've been asked to compose a piece and take on the producer role for the Dutch accordion duo Toeac's upcoming CD release! This is going to be fun; the music on the CD will be a leap from the Baroque of Bach to contemporary composers and I'm going to try and compose a link between the two, recomposing Bach's Air on a G String for two accordions. And there are bigger plans afoot!
05/02/20 - I've been commissioned by the Danish marimba player, Anders Kann Elten, to compose a large solo piece! I've never had the opportunity to work with the marimba in anything but orchestral circumstances so this is a welcome chance to dive into the instrument on another level!
07/01/20 - The date has been set! On the 16th of January my CD, Harmonia, will be available on all the big streaming and downloading apps/sites! It will be available to pre-order on iTunes already a week beforehand :) ...in other news, I'm off to Denmark tomorrow to hear my arrangement of Madeline Myer's musical into The Devil's Apprentice Suite. Looking forward to hearing how it has turned out!
26/11/19 - It's here! After all this time I can finally reveal my debut album, Harmonia! I've just added it to SoundCloud as a sneak peek while I work on getting it distributed around the internet via Spotify, Apple Music etc.
15/11/19 - Having completed four seasons as composer-in-residence with the Copenhagen Phil it was time for something a little different... After almost two years of working on a CD of newly composed music the final masters have just been completed in Berlin by the great Zino Mikorey. It's been an incredible process that took me all the way from composing music for myself to perform, collaborating once again with the always-incredible Johanna Bolin on cello, recording the instruments, learning to program analog synths and then finally finding my dream collaborator in producer and mixer Gijs van Klooster who helped round the project out by taking the sonics to another level. I can't wait to finally share this project that combines contemporary sounds and the classical tradition in new and meaningful ways!
13/09/19 - I've been commissioned to arrange and orchestrate a suite of music from Madeline Myer's new musical The Devil's Apprentice for full orchestra! This is a new and exciting experience for me and I can't wait to dive in and bring out all the juicy details with the palette a full orchestra brings! Oh, and given the subject matter...a very fitting commission for a Friday the 13th ;)
08/01/19 - Another year and some exciting projects are coming along. I've been busy at work on a piece for accordion and wind quintet, commissioned by Bjarke Mogensen and Opus Zoo. And throughout the whole of last year I've been working on a long-standing passion project of mine; to record a CD of music delving into the possibilities of modern technology in the hands of a classical composer. The music ranges from lyrical piano and cello to dynamic analog synths and seeks to find a meaningful blend between the two worlds. I'm hoping to have it all wrapped up before the year is out!
29/03/18 - I've been commissioned to compose a piece for musicians from the Danish contemporary music ensemble, Athelas, who will play together with students from MGK in Aalborg, Denmark. The project is aimed at introducing the young musicians to new music and the process of working with professional musicians. The piece will be premiered at the OpenDays festival in Aalborg, 15 September 2018.
12/01/18 - Two years and a week after starting work on my first symphony, it has now been sent to the Copenhagen Phil! Together with that I've been busy making arrangements of two operas; first came Handel's Alcina, for the Opera Academy in Copenhagen and then Bizet's Carmen, for the Malmö Opera in Sweden. It's with a sense of relief and gratitude that these projects have been completed and sent off...now comes the anticipation of getting to hear it all come to life!
08/01/18 - I've been commissioned to compose a piece for the wind quintet Opus Zoo and accordionist Bjarke Mogensen!
26/01/17 - I have been invited to take part in a project for the European Composer & Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) where they are testing the waters with crowdfunding and new music. My idea is to make a web series about the compositional process following the creation of my first symphony, which will be premiered in March 2018, as well as introducing five other contemporary composers. You can read all about it here.
04/08/16 - I've been commissioned to compose a piece, based on H. C. Andersen's The Little Mermaid, for the soprano Frederikke Kampmann's portrait concert at the Wiener Kammeroper
02/06/16 - My orchestral piece LOGOS has been selected to be performed at the ECCO Symphony Orchestra concert in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 29 September 2016
11/03/16 - I've been commissioned to compose the music for the Danish National Broadcasting Corporation's radio drama 'Love Me Tinder', created by director Eirik Sæter Stordahl
25/11/15 - I've been commissioned by the Danish Chamber Players to compose a quintet for flute, string trio & harp for their anniversary festival in August 2016
23/04/15 - I've become the Copenhagen Phil's composer-in-residence for the next couple of seasons. On the 8th April 2016 the orchestra together with pianist Katrine Gislinge will premiere my new piano concerto that I'm busy composing! In 2018 the Copenhagen Phil will be bringing my first symphony to life!
20/09/14 - Busy at work on the Copenhagen Phil's New Years Concert. I'm arranging and composing together with Body Rhythm Factory and have just completed the night's big finish, Cycles, now available on my Music page
02/02/14 - I've been commissioned to compose an overture for the 60-year anniversary concerts of Amatørsymfonikerne, to be performed in Tivoli Concert Hall and Brønden in June
02/02/14 - Den Glemte Kvarter have commissioned me to arrange a selection of pieces from their first album, Rystet Spejl, to be played at the SPOT festival in May with the Århus Sinfonietta
09/05/13 - The Copenhagen Phil have commissioned me to arrange two of next season's '60 Minutes' concerts, one with Danish band Cody and the other with Swedish duo, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, playing together with the orchestra
31/01/13 - My trombone concerto, Cosmic Dancer, has been selected to be performed at the UNM Festival in Oslo in August!
26/09/12 - It's been a busy few months...everything from editing to recording to arranging has been taking up my time. I've just finished a concert of KISS songs arranged for a cover-band and Malmö Symphony Orchestra in Sweden and am now working on a series of arrangements for the Danish Chamber Orchestra and different pop singers. Lots of variety!
17/04/12 - I've been commissioned by the French conductor Jean Thorel to compose a piece for his ensemble for a series of concerts in Paris in 2013
17/04/12 - I've been commissioned to compose a trombone concerto for Christian Schmiedescamp and the Copenhagen Philharmonic for some concerts in March 2013. Work is underway!
11/02/12 - The latest movie that I created music for, Min Bror Karim (My Brother Karim), has just won the Robert (Danish Oscar) for best short film!