STADSCOMPONIST HEERLEN

Stadscomponist Heerlen

Upon receving the invitation to work as the city composer of Heerlen for a two-year period,
I didn’t hesitate a second in accepting. 

Heerlen feels like a close fit to my own background. Growing up was in a not so great neighbourhood (Woensel) in Eindhoven, in a rijtjeshuis, as part of a working class family. I can relate to Heerlen’s industrial history as a mining town, and the heritage of that era. My grandfather had the experience of having worked at Philips as well as a miner at Staatsmijn Emma. This piece of family history ties a line between both cities, making it easy to connect to local people and stories - necessary material to start composing. 


 
 
Cultura Nova: Hallo Heële!
The inaugural performance took place at Cultura Nova Festival in a former boxing school.

Hello Heële! captures my first impressions of the city and is the introduction of the city composer to the lüj (folks) of Heerlen. It features a listening exercise together with the audience, the reading of an excerpt from De Antistad (M. Hermans) and various sonic reflections on the city.