Stage set for ‘New Blues for Piano’
Dutch Embassy, KCP present great concert
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 27: Kuwait Chamber Philharmonia (KCP) in cooperation with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kuwait will be holding a concert, New Blues for Piano, on March 7, 2013, at the Hashemi Ballroom in Radisson Blu Hotel.
Marcel Worms, the performer, has been engaged for many years in the modern-classical repertory that has been influenced by jazz. Because of the prominent position of the blues in jazz, he found it an attractive idea to invite composers from the countries where he performed to contribute to a project which he called ‘New Blues for Piano’.
Currently, over 200 new bluespieces from about 50 different countries (in almost all of which the program has been performed) have been written and the number is still increasing. From these pieces, one can get an idea of what the blues mean to the contemporary composer. When the blues written by composers from different countries are compared, the various cultural backgrounds are often revealed quite clearly.
A selection from the repertory of new blues can be heard at this concert. One will notice that every composer approaches the blues in a very personal way and that some of the compositions have only remote connections with traditional blues. The composers were free to use or not to use the characteristic elements of the blues, such as blue notes, a certain series of chords, etc. Most pieces have been completely composed while in others the performer is expected to improvise.
Instruments
Marcel Worms (1951) studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Hans Dercksen. He also took lessons with Russian Youri Egorov and with Alicia de Larrocha. After his final exam in 1987, he specialized in the study of chamber music with Hans Broekman and 20th century piano music with Alexandre Hrisanide. Marcel Worms is active as a chamber music player and soloist: in 1990 he premiered early works by Schoenberg in a recital at the Icebreaker in Amsterdam and in 1991 he performed the complete piano works of Janacek.
Since 1992, he has been performing “Jazz Influences in 20th Century Piano Music” on Dutch stages. In 1994, this program appeared on CDs under BV Haast label.
With the Groupe des Sept, which he founded, Marcel Worms performed, among others, the complete works of Poulenc for piano and wind instruments. This program too appeared on CD on Emergo Classics.
In 1994, Mondrian’s memorial year, Marcel Worms performed the program Mondrian and the Music of his Time. The composers Willem Breuker and Theo Loevendie wrote a composition for this project. He performed this pro- gram in the Netherlands, Russia (Hermitage St Petersburg, Pushkin Museum Moscow) many other European countries, and the United States (including the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.).
On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Jean Wiéner, he performed a concert completely dedicated to piano music of this French composer in the Netherlands and France. BVHAAST released this on CD in 1996.
Since 1996, Marcel Worms is working on a blues project. About 200 Dutch and foreign composers (from 50 countries from all continents) wrote for this project. This program has appeared on 7 CD’s already.
Between 1998 and 2010, Marcel Worms has performed this program in the Netherlands (at the BIMHUIS in Amsterdam), in most European countries, China, Indonesia, Russia, the Middle East, the Far East, the United States, Africa, South America and Cuba. In 1999 he played at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. In 2001 there were performances at the Festival for New Music in Bucharest and at the Warsaw Autumn in Warsaw, and in 2002 at the EU Jazz Festival in Mexico City and the Audio Art Festival in Krakow (Poland).
Scores
In 2004, this program was performed at the Festival De la Música Contemporanea in Bolivia, at the Forum Neuer Musik in Cologne, at the Festival of Aveiro (Portugal) and at the Fajr Festival in Iran. In 2005 Marcel Worms presented his blues project at the Festival Tblisi Autumn in Georgia and in 2008 at the International Piano festival of Bucaramanga (Colombia).
During the past years the blues project has been played in many African countries. A selection of the blues scores have been published by Donemus (Amsterdam) and Peer Music (Hamburg, Germany) As part of the Van Gogh exhibition in Washington DC and Los Angeles, Marcel Worms used pictures taken at a Van Gogh Exhibition for the CD.
At the request of the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, he put together a program centered on Picasso that also appeared as CD in this exhibition. A program of tangos from Latin America and Europe was performed, among other places, in China and Argentina, and it appeared as CD for the BVHAAST-label.
As of 2002, the pianist is active with the piano works of Federico Mompou. In 2007, he released two CDs with this composer’s music and organized a three-day Mompou Festival. In 2009 he made the first recording on CD of some 40 unpublished works by Mompou that were rediscovered in 2008 in Barcelona. Marcel Worms is a guest professor at the recently founded Conservatory in Paramaribo (Suriname).