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29th Young Composers Meeting: Senior Composers Team

During the annual Young Composers Meeting we give young professional composers a chance to compose for an ensemble and develop their talents, knowledge and professional network. The week is filled with rehearsals, lectures and individual coaching by senior composers. We would like to share with you which composers will accompany the young composers during the 29th Young Composers Meeting in 2023. Richard Ayres and Martijn Padding are once again part of the team, along with three new composers that will join the team: Wilbert Bulsink, Calliope Tsoupaki and Anna Veismane.

We would like to introduce all composers to you one by one.

Wilbert Bulsink (1983) is a composer, pianist and keyboardist and teaches composition at the Artez Conservatory in Zwolle. In addition, Bulsink plays synthesizer and Hammond organ in bands such as fSTARand and PumpOrgan. He is a member of the composer collective Monoták and of Splendor Amsterdam, a group of fifty musicians who transformed an old bath house into a stage for all kinds of music. As a composer he received commissions from many Dutch ensembles and orchestras: including ASKO|Schönberg, the Nieuw Ensemble, Looptail, the Orkest van het Oosten and the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble.

Read more about Wilbert Bulsink on his website.

Calliope Tsoupaki (1963) teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. In 2018 she was appointed as “Composer Laureate of the Netherlands” for the coming two years. Tsoupaki makes music that has a mood of timelessness. Her objective is expressing the essence as simply and clearly as possible. In her compositions she uses elements of early and contemporary music as well as the music of Greece and the Middle East. Combining these aspects, she skillfully creates a completely personal style. Her music is praised for its melodic character, warm sound and emotional quality. To date her oeuvre consists of more than 100 works for diverse instrumentation and instruments from different cultures (qanun, ney, kemençe, hurdy gurdy, vielle, viola da gamba, pan flute), from solo to orchestral works, choral music, dance, theatre, opera and multi-sensory projects.

Read more about Calliope Tsoupaki on her website.
Photo: Michiel van Nieuwkerk.

Anna Veismane (1976) works at Latvian Radio 3 - Klasika as a producer of sound recordings and regularly organizes concerts - live broadcasts at the 1st studio of Latvian Radio. She was an artistic director of the Latvian Composers’ Union festival “The Latvian New Music Days 2022”. Anna is a member of the Latvian Composer’s Union’s board and a chair-person of ISCM Latvia section. She is involved in educational projects for young people, also promoting young composers. She has written music for theater performances, arrangements of folk and popular music as well as methodical materials for children.

Read more about Anna Veismane on her website. 
Photo by Janis Porietis.

Richard Ayres’ (1965) orchestral works present a kaleidoscope of color, emotion and musical style, often involving strong visual and dramatic ideas. A series of ‘NONcertos’ for solo instrument and ensemble or orchestra, wherein the soloist is often positioned as a virtuosic anti-hero, demonstrate Ayres’ ability to balance drama and humour in his music. In the 1990s Ayres moved to The Hague for postgraduate study in composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatoire where he later became a composition teacher. Since 2006 he has taught at the Amsterdam Conservatoire.

Read more about Richard Ayres on his website.
Photo: https://richardayrescomposer.tumblr.com/.

Martijn Padding (1956) studied composition with Louis Andriessen and musicology at the University of Utrecht. He is currently a teacher and head of the composition department at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Padding has a fascination for clarity and contrasts between the logical and the illogical. In his work he seeks craftiness rather than the grand gesture.Padding's oeuvre ranges from works for a solo instrument to large-scale compositions for orchestra and musical theater. His compositional aesthetics exclude any hierarchical relationship within the music, for example between modernist and experimental elements, influences from popular culture and doctrine rooted in history

Read more about Martijn Padding on his website. 
Photo: http://www.martijnpadding.nl/.

From left to right: Anna Veismane, Martijn Padding, Calliope Tsoupaki, Wilbert Bulsink and Richard Ayres.

The application for the YCM 2023 will open on June 1st!  Read more about the Young Composers Meeting here.

29th Young Composers Meeting: Senior Composers Team

29th Young Composers Meeting: Senior Composers Team

During the annual Young Composers Meeting we give young professional composers a chance to compose for an ensemble and develop their talents, knowledge and professional network. The week is filled with rehearsals, lectures and individual coaching by senior composers. We would like to share with you which composers will accompany the young composers during the 29th Young Composers Meeting in 2023. Richard Ayres and Martijn Padding are once again part of the team, along with three new composers that will join the team: Wilbert Bulsink, Calliope Tsoupaki and Anna Veismane.

We would like to introduce all composers to you one by one.

Wilbert Bulsink (1983) is a composer, pianist and keyboardist and teaches composition at the Artez Conservatory in Zwolle. In addition, Bulsink plays synthesizer and Hammond organ in bands such as fSTARand and PumpOrgan. He is a member of the composer collective Monoták and of Splendor Amsterdam, a group of fifty musicians who transformed an old bath house into a stage for all kinds of music. As a composer he received commissions from many Dutch ensembles and orchestras: including ASKO|Schönberg, the Nieuw Ensemble, Looptail, the Orkest van het Oosten and the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble.

Read more about Wilbert Bulsink on his website.

Calliope Tsoupaki (1963) teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. In 2018 she was appointed as “Composer Laureate of the Netherlands” for the coming two years. Tsoupaki makes music that has a mood of timelessness. Her objective is expressing the essence as simply and clearly as possible. In her compositions she uses elements of early and contemporary music as well as the music of Greece and the Middle East. Combining these aspects, she skillfully creates a completely personal style. Her music is praised for its melodic character, warm sound and emotional quality. To date her oeuvre consists of more than 100 works for diverse instrumentation and instruments from different cultures (qanun, ney, kemençe, hurdy gurdy, vielle, viola da gamba, pan flute), from solo to orchestral works, choral music, dance, theatre, opera and multi-sensory projects.

Read more about Calliope Tsoupaki on her website.
Photo: Michiel van Nieuwkerk.

Anna Veismane (1976) works at Latvian Radio 3 - Klasika as a producer of sound recordings and regularly organizes concerts - live broadcasts at the 1st studio of Latvian Radio. She was an artistic director of the Latvian Composers’ Union festival “The Latvian New Music Days 2022”. Anna is a member of the Latvian Composer’s Union’s board and a chair-person of ISCM Latvia section. She is involved in educational projects for young people, also promoting young composers. She has written music for theater performances, arrangements of folk and popular music as well as methodical materials for children.

Read more about Anna Veismane on her website. 
Photo by Janis Porietis.

Richard Ayres’ (1965) orchestral works present a kaleidoscope of color, emotion and musical style, often involving strong visual and dramatic ideas. A series of ‘NONcertos’ for solo instrument and ensemble or orchestra, wherein the soloist is often positioned as a virtuosic anti-hero, demonstrate Ayres’ ability to balance drama and humour in his music. In the 1990s Ayres moved to The Hague for postgraduate study in composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatoire where he later became a composition teacher. Since 2006 he has taught at the Amsterdam Conservatoire.

Read more about Richard Ayres on his website.
Photo: https://richardayrescomposer.tumblr.com/.

Martijn Padding (1956) studied composition with Louis Andriessen and musicology at the University of Utrecht. He is currently a teacher and head of the composition department at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Padding has a fascination for clarity and contrasts between the logical and the illogical. In his work he seeks craftiness rather than the grand gesture.Padding's oeuvre ranges from works for a solo instrument to large-scale compositions for orchestra and musical theater. His compositional aesthetics exclude any hierarchical relationship within the music, for example between modernist and experimental elements, influences from popular culture and doctrine rooted in history

Read more about Martijn Padding on his website. 
Photo: http://www.martijnpadding.nl/.

From left to right: Anna Veismane, Martijn Padding, Calliope Tsoupaki, Wilbert Bulsink and Richard Ayres.

The application for the YCM 2023 will open on June 1st!  Read more about the Young Composers Meeting here.