One of the new incentives set up by Okke Westdorp at Codarts Rotterdam is the series of department Open Days that began in January with brass and continued on 5 March with the Woodwind Open Day. It was a privilege to be involved in running this day which combined masterclasses by Juliette Hurel, Julien Hervé,
Thanks to the connection that I made with Jörg Linowitzki two years ago when he visited Codarts Rotterdam to undertake the review of the String Department, I was invited by his Hochschüle in Lübeck to visit the class of Diethelm Jonas on 28 and 29 January. I gave a talk on British and Dutch oboe
I returned to Rotterdam on Monday 25 January now in my new role of supporting the Classical Music Department and its new Head, Okke Westdorp. Monday evening was taken up with a very full Open Podium with some excellent perfromnaces from students, notable a delicious Ma Mère L’Oye from Ellyne Wieringa and Elise de Gast,
I have just come back from De Doelen where a concert conducted by Hans Leenders has completed the Codarts autumn Project Week with aplomb. As posted last year on 3 November, Codarts project weeks happen twice a year and suspend the curriculum in order to allow students to do something entirely different. This year we
The idea for the Fifty Fiddles Festival which took place on 26 and 27 September in De Doelen, Rotterdam came from the earlier collaboration that Codarts organised with jazz violinist Tim Kliphuis joining Gordan Nikolic and the Codarts String Orchestra in concerts that combined string works of Mozart and Vivaldi with jazz improvisations. Some Codarts
This year’s Gergiev Festival on 10 to 12 September in Rotterdam was made all the more interesting by the inclusion of a performance of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Symphony played by students from Codarts Rotterdam and KC Den Haag and conducted by Valery Gergiev himself. This was another vintage collaboration between the two conservatoires which produced a
After a hectic June with concerts to play (including a most enjoyable return to the Adrian Boult Hall on 13 June for chamber music with Naoko Senda, Robin Ireland, Jane Salmon and Guy Murgatroyd), exams and end-of-term activities at Codarts Rotterdam, we came to a close today with the Graduation Ceremony for Classical Music. It
I spent a most pleasurable 90 minutes last night in the small recital hall at Codarts Rotterdam listening to seven young flute players in the class of Juliette Hurel, Julie Moulin and Wim Steinmann all playing piccolo solos. The small audience of flute players, friends and partners of flute players and family of flute players
28 March was an amazing day for Codarts, its students and for Rotterdam. Our 1000-student conservatoire in collaboration with De Doelen took over the whole of De Doelen complex for the day and put on 86 performances of extraordinary diversity. Why take on such a venture? The reason is to demonstrate what Codarts believes in
March has begun with some really interesting chamber music in Rotterdam in the form of a visit to Codarts by the Schubert Ensemble of London on Monday 2nd and a concert by the Rotterdam Chamber Music Society in the Bergsingelkerk on Wednsday 4th. Both concerts featured experienced professionals playing with talented students in very engaging