Calefax

Nico Muhly (b.1981) is a contemporary music phenomenon. Every now and then we are blessed with one - a composer who hits the spot. The 'here and now' encapsulated in a single melody or rhythm. Nico Muhly is American and a protegé of Philip Glass. With a few playful and adventurous works, he has cast doubt on the self-satisfied seriousness of classical music. MySpace, YouTube and hip hop are all part of his daily life, as is seventeenth-century choral music. Together with Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, London's Wigmore Hall and Eindhoven's Muziekgebouw, we have opted for a new creation by this young god, one that he wrote for the Dutch Calefax Reed Quintet and the young opera star Lenneke Ruiten. During the twenty-five years of its existence, Calefax's unique reed-instrument ensemble has been an engaging and much-sought-after presence at a very wide range of chamber music venues. The group plays standing, and couples its exceptional playing with a relaxed look. Calefax has selected a fine programme to complement this creation, a programme ranging from Bach through Steve Reich to Hans Abrahamsen and Matthew Shlomowitz - composers that, 'fortuitously', regularly appear on deSingel programmes.