New Music Magazine

An online magazine full of longreads alongside the conference? Well, why not? We thought it was a shame that some conversations and meetings faded so quickly, so we started making recordings during New Music Conference 2022. On this page, you will find slightly edited versions of the conversations with composers and others involved, as they took place in and around Verkadefabriek in ‘s-Hertogenbosch – and more. At irregular intervals, we will supplement them with related stories, portraits and contemplative conference updates. Enjoy, and feel free to comment via info@newmusicconference.nl.

Already awarded with the prestigious Boy Edgar Prize for Dutch jazz artists, Corrie van Binsbergen now wins the Buma Classical Award. ‘I couldn’t be more surprised,’ she says. Read our interview now in Dutch below.

New York’s multi-faceted performing arts organization Bang on a Can became known for their successful ‘crossover’ approach to current music. Every year, Bang on a Can organises the Summer Music Festival in MassMoCa, about 2.5 hours’ travel from New York, this year from 15 July to 4 August. The festival is considered an important international […]

NMC Simon SteenAnderson in conversation with Co de Kloet

Meet Simon Steen-Andersen: his works come down to putting existing musical objects together and giving them a new meaning. In conversation with Co de Kloet at New Music Conference 2023.

Kika Sprangers loves to compose for big groups. She gets her inspiration preferably from non-musical things like literature, photography or even concepts. In conversation with fellow composer Anne La Berge at New Music Conference 2023, we get to know Sprangers through several fragments of her work.

Andrea Voets talks with Co

Andrea Voets (34) is a musical journalist. Co de Kloet interviewed Voets on November 9 during New Music Conference 2023 about her unique method of combining journalism with new music.

Maya Fridman at NMC 2023

At New Music Conference Maya Fridman spoke about her journey from musician to maker with host Jet Berkhout. Read about making and composing music, and the non existing comfort zone of Fridman.

Mathilde Wantenaar won the Buma Classical Award. We got to surprise her in Vienna, before her ‘Accordeonconcert’ had its world premiere. According to the BumaStemra figures, the 30-year old has managed to achieve the most income from copyright in 2023. In doing so, she leaves behind predominantly older and male composers and arrangers. We interviewed her about her way of life, her life as a composer.

Bert Palinckx

A fair music practice is about more than money, says Bert Palinckx. He is the Artistic Director of November Music, the festival in Den Bosch that won the 2023 Fair Practice Award, an initiative of Dutch composers’ association Nieuw Geneco. ‘It’s about giving composers the freedom to create what they want,’ Palinckx explains. November Music […]

Aart Strootman

Composer Aart Strootman, winner of the Gaudeamus Award 2017 and the Buma Classical Award 2019, pronounced the State of Dutch New Music at the opening night of Gaudeamus Festival 2023, Wednesday 6 September in TivoliVredenburg. The State of Dutch New Music is an initiative of Gaudeamus and Buma Cultuur, supporters and promoters of Dutch music […]

On September 8, during the Gaudeamus Music Week, Nieuw Geneco, the Dutch professional association for composers, presented the Nieuw Geneco Fair Practice Award 2023 to Ensemble Black Pencil and the November Music festival for their tireless efforts and commitment to a fair and sustainable practice in new music. With the presentation of the Nieuw Geneco […]

During the final hour of The New Music Conference, Franki Dodwell was one of the seven (former) students to take the stage at The New Composers Pitch. Dodwell shared two works with a personal story. The jury thought she was very honest and decided unanimously that she was the winner of the Buma New Music […]

Philip Venables, interview at New Music Conference 2022

Interview by Anne La Berge at New Music Conference, 11 November 2022 Anne La Berge introduces: ‘Welcome! Philip Venables has been described by Alex Ross of The New Yorker as a composer of ferocious, dramatic instincts, and an arrestingly musical personality, and has been named one of the finest composers around by The Guardian. Their […]

Interview by Co de Kloet at New Music Conference, 11 November 2022 Steven Kamper­man is in France at the time of the interview, where he is artist-in-residence at the Van Doesburg House (situated in Meudon, a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris) from November 2022 to February 2023. The clarinetist and composer is extremely […]