Each year, NEuE collaborates with the composition department of the Royal Conservatoire to perform new works by composition students. This year, Hesce Maurits, Thijmen Krijgsman, and Cory Harper-Latkovich are composing for the ensemble. A special guest, the unconventional American Alvin Curran, is also in The Hague at the invitation of ReWire. NEuE will perform Way Out Back by Curran, a humorous and rhythmic ensemble piece.

Hesce Maurits – New work

Thijmen Krijgsman – New work

Cory Harper-Latkovich – New Work

Alvin Curran – Way out back

An evening with new music in a beautiful atmosphere!

Part A – The Sea
Kate Moore – Incantation
Dai Fujikura – Wave
George Crumb- Vox Balaenae
Guillaume Connesson – Disco Toccata

Part B – How many will it take
Kinan Azmeh- How many will it take

Part C – Buhur
Kareem Roustom – Buhur mvmt. 3

Part D – Ecstatic science
Cory Latkovich – Sieves and shieves
Missy Mazzoli – Ecstatic Science
Guillaume Connesson – Techno Parade

Part E
Paul Wiancko – American Haiku

New European Ensemble celebrates Arnold Schönberg’s 150th birthday and the ensemble’s fifteenth anniversary! Henk Guittart, former violist of the Schönberg Quartet, presents a fresh, new version of Schönberg’s Violin Concerto. Dutch composer Martijn Padding is inspired by Schönberg’s colorful expressionist paintings in a new work commissioned by NEuE. The program concludes with the Serenade op.24; the first work that the ensemble performed when it was founded in 2009. A celebration of contemporary music!

Arnold Schönberg Violin Concerto (arr. Henk Guittart)
Martijn Padding Ma vie en couleurs (world premiere)
Arnold Schoenberg Serenade op. 24

New European Ensemble
Henk Guittart, conductor
Maria Milstein, violin

In The Echo of Being, Lucas van Woerkum weaves excerpts from Mahler’s Second, Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth symphonies into a cinematic narrative about Gustav and Alma Mahler and their daughter Maria. The lead roles are played by Amira Casar (Call Me by Your Name) and Greg Wise (The Crown). The music is orchestrated by composer Thomas Beijer and performed live by the New European Ensemble.

The film explores the dying process of Maria through the eyes of her three family members. Their pain and loss, but above all their love for nature, life, and the unknown, take center stage. Maria’s journey to the afterlife is visualized through fractal animations based on the musical structure. Van Woerkum synchronizes the film live from within the orchestra, creating a unique symbiosis of music and image.

Performers
Musicians: New European Ensemble
Director: Lucas van Woerkum

A unique concert performance with readings from the novels Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter by Ali Smith, one of the greatest Scottish authors of our time. Every year, Smith wrote a new novel, highlighting contemporary themes such as ecology, migration, Brexit and more. NEuE has commissioned four female composers to create new ensemble works inspired by the novels. This unique mix of music and literature is presented in collaboration with the National Theater, where a matching theater performance will premiere with director Eric de Vroedt.

Programma

Kate Moore – Herfst (world premiere)
Anna Thorvaldsdottir – Spectra
Alice Yeung – Winter (world premiere)
Peter Maxwell Davies – A Sad Paven for These Distracted Tymes v
Seung Won Oh – Spring (world premiere)
Kinan Azmeh – On Solitude
Sara Zamboni – Summer (world premiere)

In Otemba – Daring Women, Cornelia steps out of the painting and engages in a conversation with the restorer about colonial relations, the female perspective, and autonomy.

The restoration of the 17th-century painting depicting a colonial scene culminates in a nighttime encounter between the Indonesian restorer and the woman portrayed: Cornelia van Nijenrode, a Japanese-Dutch woman and the wife of Pieter Cnoll, a wealthy senior merchant in Batavia. After his death, she remarries and becomes the first woman in the Netherlands to file a lawsuit for financial self-determination when seeking to divorce her second husband.

The libretto of Otemba – Daring Women is written by Janine Brogt, and the performance is directed by Jan van den Berg. The lead roles are performed by soloists Ryoko Aoki, Bernadeta Astari, and Michael Wilmering. Misato Mochizuki was previously featured at the Holland Festival with L’heure bleue in 2013.

“Otemba” (untamable) is not only the title of the performance but also one of the more than 160 words that Japanese has borrowed from Dutch. It refers to rebellious women who refuse to conform and choose their own path.

In Otemba, characters from different eras come together, advocating for a new perspective on history. Restoration is often described as “management of change,” and this restoration offers a renewed, decolonizing view of the past. Otemba comes to life.

Compositie: Misato Mochizuki
Libretto: Janine Brogt
Dirigent: Kanako Abe
Ensemble: New European Ensemble
Artistieke leiding & regie: Jan van den BergCornelia van Nijenrode: Ryoko Aoki
Kirana Diah: Bernadeta Astari
Miro: Michael Wilmering
Lichtontwerp: Gé Wegman
Kostuums: Lisa Konno

VLAD MAISTOROVICI  conductor, violin

Vlad Maistorovici Metamorphosis  after M. C. Escher
Michel van der Aa Shades of Red
Dan Dediu Hyperkardia II Op. 139
Mark-Anthony Turnage Romanian Rhapsody
George Enescu Chamber Symphony for 12 Solo Instruments Op. 33

Meriç Artaç is composing a brand-new Bosch Requiem commissioned by November Music for NEuE and Capella Amsterdam. It will premiere on November 7 at Theater aan de Parade, Den Bosch, and during Opera Forward 2026.

With his iconic composition “4’33”,” John Cage invited listeners in 1952 to attentively listen to their surroundings and the subtle sounds of their own heartbeat and breathing. Since then, new music has consistently challenged us to listen to the world anew. Swiss composer Jürg Frey creates works that explore the boundaries of the audible. His compositions utilize sparse sound materials and silences, making silence the subject of the music. The result is an invitation to reflection and a renewed experience of sound.

Program

John Cage – Seven

John Cage – In a Landscape

John Cage – 4’33

Jürg Frey – world premiere (commissioned by NEuE)

Watch the ensemble working with Jürg Frey: