Damokles

14'

Cello Biënnale Amsterdam with financial support of the Fonds Podiumkunsten

Cellokwartet Ferschtman, Dimitry Ferschtman, Larissa Groeneveld, Ketevan Roinischvilli, Willem Stam.

 

25 October 2018, Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam

On 23 March last year, Liza Ferschtman played Mathilde Wantenaar's new octet for strings for the first time. Liza's father Dmitry Ferschtman was so impressed that the same evening he asked Mathilde to compose a new work for his cello quartet. Dmitry Ferschtman once taught Maarten Mostert (artistic director of the Cello Biennale) and Mathilde Wantenaar studied cello with him again. And so a composition commission for the seventh edition of the Biennale rolled out. Mathilde: 'I write a lot from the magic of stillness, I like that. But I like more things. Maybe my new composition will actually be very spicy. A solid climax develops in my octet. I would like to explore that harder side further. But when I start writing, the music sometimes leads me in a completely different direction. I greatly enjoy writing completely abstract and exploring the musical material all the way.' Wantenaar studied composition with Wim Henderickx and is honoured to be on the programme with him now. 'When I went to the conservatory, I thought I was not allowed to write certain music. That turned out not to be the case at all. Wim Henderickx welcomes everyone with open arms, he is very open and enthusiastic.'