"Frank Denyer is an English composer whose brilliantly coloured and imaginatively rich compositions fall between several and into none of the accepted categories of contemporary music.

Born in London in 1943, he was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral by the age of nine, the director of the experimental music ensemble Mouth of Hermes in London at the age of twenty-five, and a Doctoral student in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University, Connecticut at the age of thirty. He has lived and worked in east Africa and India.

Denyer's music is distinguished by a keen sensitivity to sound. Each of his works is written for a unique combination of instruments, more often than not a combination that no composer has dreamed of before. Each work finds its own individual form, laying down the path for its journey as it proceeds. In some cases even such basic musical materials as the scales and the tuning system are invented from scratch.This music is handmade in every detail; it is engaged in a complex process of affirmation and negation, accepting no easy solutions.

For Denyer, a fine pianist who has composed not one note for his own instrument since his student days, the whole question of musical instruments is a central one. His compositions present an astonishingly varied array of sound sources - new instruments of his own invention, adapted instruments, instruments of non Western traditions, rare or virtually extinct instruments, and conventional Western instruments. This whole concern with what his friend Morton Feldman called 'the instrumental factor' is not a postmodern mixing-and-matching of instruments from different 'ethnic' traditions: rather, his work suggests that all instruments bear the imprint of the tradition of which they are a part, whether that tradition be nascent, mature or decaying, and that at the beginning of the twenty-first century we cannot afford to be complacent about which musical traditions we consider to be 'ours.' Neither is his music that of a composer making do with ready-mades or whatever lies to hand (like Cage's percussion ensemble works of the 1930s and early 1940s). Nor, at the other extreme, does one have the sense of the composer gradually assembling an instrumentarium of his own, creating the illusion of an alternative musical universe (like Harry Partch): for one thing, Denyer's assembly of new instruments hardly ever plays together; for another, they rarely recur from one work to the next - each new composition wipes the slate clean and starts afresh. The instruments are like flowers that suddenly spring up between the cracks in a wall; they seem to be there because the opportunity has arisen for them to exist, to fill the gaps between isolated islands of instrumental sound.

Denyer's concern with musical instruments can also be seen as a metaphor for the larger question of what can be salvaged, artistically, from the chaos of civilization as we begin our new century. Compositions like A Monkey's Paw (1987-88) and Finding Refuge in the Remains (1992) confront this central issue - the sense of new life emerging from a morass of dead or decaying matter - an urgent issue for him both compositionally and culturally."

"Jos Zwaanenburg (1958) studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, flute with Joost Tromp, composition with Wim de Ruiter, and finished his studies with distinction in 1985. He was one of the prize winners of the International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition 1984. He gave numerous solo concerts in Europe, USA, South-America (solo-recitals, as soloist with various orchestras and as member of different chamber music ensembles like the Barton Workshop, the Gaudeamus Solisten Ensemble, the Xenakis Ensemble, the Cornelius Cardew Ensemble and The Interval Chamber) and made radio and TV recordings. Although he concentrates on present-day music, his repertoire contains works from all style periods.

He teaches at the Amsterdam School of Arts and the Music Department of University College Bretton Hall (Leeds, G.B.), where he is also artistic leader of their ensemble in residence The Cornelius Cardew Ensemble. Furthermore he is guest teacher at the University of Oxford Brookes. His compositions were published by Donemus and Ascolta Music Holland.

A selection of compositions by Jos Zwaanenburg: Solo for prepared flute (1984), Texts for nothing (4 electronic flutes and tape) (1985), Paraphrasen über Grass (4 acting singers) (1986), Sol (concert for open-hole alto flute and ensemble) (1987), à Aphonie (organ) (1990), May be tomorrow (tenor saxophone) (1990), Manamanamania II (open-hole alto flute and life electronics) (1991).As far as the flute is concerned, the greatest number of playing possibilities is achieved on an "open-key" flute with a "B foot joint". Until now this system was only available on the normal C-flute. Hence the idea for the alto flute - which previously had a covered key system - by giving it similar keywork to the open-key flute, the possibilities became the same as the C-flute. The new alto flute was realised in 1986 by Kuiper-Kingma, flutemaker in Nederhorst den Berg, the Netherlands. Due to this system with keys with small holes, extra keys, and new playing techniques, the alto flute has become a very flexible instrument, possible of creating many tones. The new alto flute has about 192,000 fingering combinations - a dramatic improvement to the 8000 on the old alto flute. The "Zwaanenburg" model alto flute also is in production by Kuiper-Kingma. The alto flute project was made possible due to the support of the Ministerie van WVC/Raad voor de Kunst, The Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, and Foundation Gaudeamus. Special thanks to Dirk Kuiper, Eva Kingma and Henk Heuvelmans.

He composed Cherubs' Chirrup in 1992 by request of Joop van Goozen. The work is composed specifically for 31-tone organ, the aforementioned open-key alto flute (which can faithfully reproduce a 31-tone scale) and live-electronics. It's on the CD 50 jaar Stichting Huygens-Fokker. The 31-tone system is approximated here as an equal tempered scale wherein all 31 tones in the octave are equally important: no tonal principles are used.

Zwaanenburg succeeded Marian Van Dijk in 1998 as director of the Stichting Huygens-Fokker and fulfilled this job until September 2000 after which Ned McGowan became director. He currently teaches at the Conservatory of Amsterdam in "Contemporary Music Through Non-Western Techniques", "Advanced Rhythm" and "Live Electronics". Zwaanenburg is also guest lecturer at the music departments of the University of York and Oxford Brookes University."

"I started my first horn lessons with Ab Koster in The Hague Holland and studied at the royal conservatory with Piet Schijf. Followed by a few years with Hermann Baumann in Essen, Germany.

Already during his studies I combined playing the modern valve horn with the natural horn. This combination I continued in my professional live, playing as first horn with the Arnhem Philharmonic and with the orchestra of the 18th century. Since 2013 I became free lance. In this way I'm able to play more on old horns. I play in many different orchestras and groups in Europe. The Orchestra of the eighteenth century, Apollo ensemble and the Haydn Philharmonie are my regular groups.

I've always been rather keen on playing as a soloist and chamber musician. Played many times as soloist with the Arnhem Philharmonic. Now I play a horn and harp programm and a trio programm with violin and piano. With Riko Fukuda, piano and Franc Polman, violin we recorded the Brahms horn trio.

I teach at the conservatory of Zwolle (Artez school of the arts). Gave masterclasses in Brazil, Spain and Belgium and at the Amsterdam conservatory.

Besides I buy and sell old horns, like to write short stories and run trails."

Elisabeth Smalt is a Modern Classical living in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. She is a member of The Barton Workshop, Musica ad Rhenum, Nepomuk Fortepiano Quintet, Oxalys, Trio Scordatura, and Zephyr Quartet.

"Pepe Garcia: Sound researcher, music creator. Percussion teacher @Royal Conservatoire The Hague. Artistic coordinator @slagwerkdenhaag www.slagwerkdenhaag.nl"

"Natalia Alvarez-Arenas (1986 Spain) She is a classical percussionist, performer and educator.

She has been playing percussion since She was 7 years old. She studied at the Royal Conservatory of Atocha in Madrid where She got her double bachelor degree in Percussion and Percussion Pedagogi in 2009. In 2013 and 2015 She also finished her bachelor and Master percussion degree at the Royal Conservatory of Den Haag with Fedor Teunisse, Pepe Garcia and Luuk Nagtegaal.

All through her career she has played and collaborate in different orchestras, ensembles and musical organizations as Ludwig, Residentie Orquestra, Diamant Fabrike, Dag in de Branding, Asko Schönberg, Slagwerk Den Haag and New European Ensemble. She was one of the leaders of Davai percussion Ensemble when they won the first prize of the Grachtenfestival in 2013. Now She is a member of On:Time percussion, JongNBE, Ta-Ta-Tone theatrical ensemble and Catchpenny ensemble.

Also She runs her own academy of music and movement for children in Den Haag, She works as a teacher with children with Autism. She is leading and guiding workshops of music introduction and percussion and She is collaborating with Ludwig in Music and Dementie and with the NAIP Master (New Audiences and Innovative Practice) in Holland."

"Dario Calderone studied Doublebass with Massimo Giorgi, Franco Petracchi and Stefano Scodanibbio. Between 2001 and 2007 collaborated as solo Doublebass in various orchestras. Since 2007 dedicates mainly to the diffusion of music composed during the last 40 years. He has collaborated with a number of composers , among others Salvatore Sciarrino, Bernhard Lang, Louis Andriessen, Robert Ashley, Christian Marclay and Yannis Kyriakides, inspiring them in the composition of their works. His activity spaces from solo performances to chamber music, having been regularly invited by the major contemporary musical festivals. He plays with Nieuw Ensemble, NAP, Atlas Ensemble and Ensemble Algoritmo; in 2013 he funded together with Yannis Kyriakides, Ann La Berge, Wiek Hijmans, Gareth Davis and Reinier Van Hout the ensemble MAZE, a group deeply involved in radical experimentations in the field of conceptual composition.

He regularly gives masterclasses at the Tashkent conservatory and at the Amsterdam Conservatory. In 2002 wins the first price at W. Benzi solo doblebass competition, and in 2006 wins the stipendium price of the IMD of Darmstadt. He recorded a number of CDs for Stradivarius, Attaca records, Wergo and Unsounds. In 2015 will be tutor in the "impuls Academy" in Graz."

"Pietro Elia Barcellona is an Italian contrabassist, composer and improviser currently based in the Netherlands, where he is active in the fields of experimental music involving both improvising and performing written material.

In the field of new music, Pietro has premiered works of composers such as Frank Denyer, collaborating with Amsterdam-based Ensemble Scordatura, and Robin Engel as first double bass of the Junger Künstler Bayreuth Orchestra; as well as performing in festivals such as Gaudeamus, Amsterdam Viola Festival and Doek Festival. Pietro has also played as a soloist for Sebastian Gramss' BasseMasse Sizilien Orchestra as part of Curva Minore in Palermo. Pietro has studied with teachers such Dario Calderone and Ernst Glerum and his repertoire includes composers such as Giacinto Scelsi, Stefano Scodanibbio, Salvatore Sciarrino. Pietro has also received lessons in contemporary chamber music from Helen Hulst and Nick Sterling, members of Nieuw Amsterdams Peil.

As an improviser Pietro has performed with numerous formations. He is co-leader of Fade in Trio, an ensemble focused on exploring ways of mixing Carnatic rhythms, free improvisation and unconventional techniques. The trio was among the winners of "Tomorrow's Jazz Prize" in Venice in 2021. Pietro is also a member of Moving Air Ensemble, an immersive project involving a kinetic sound installation combined with an acoustic ensemble. Furthermore, he is a member of Stab Freeze Collective (a sound painting ensemble), All Strings (an improvised music series of only string instruments players).

As a composer Pietro is interested in exploring the boundaries of composition and improvisation as well as the relationship between musical gesture and rhythm. Pietro is founder and co-leader of Ensemble Mellonta, a collective devoted to the performance of contemporary music and new compositions for which he also composes."

"Néstor Martínez Jara, a tuba student of Professor David Muñoz, who last year finished 6th in Professional Education in Gijón, has won the Extraordinary Award for Artistic Education convened by the Asturias Ministry of Education. It's great news that will help you continue his musical path.

Currently, Néstor continues his studies at the Conservatory of Music of the Principality of Asturias with Professor Alfonso Mollá."

"Alfrun Schmid Vocalist born in Germany. She studied with Anne Haenen at the Conservatory in Enschede, the Netherlands, and continued studies with Charles van Tassel and Cora Canne Meijer at the Conservatory of Amsterdam."

Janneke van Prooijen: concert violinist at Prisma String Trio, Atlantic Piano Trio, Lunapark.

"I'm a classically trained cellist with an interest in linking the old and the new and more than a decade of experience performing music in a variety of styles to different audiences around the world.

Currently based in Amsterdam, I develop both solo and collaborative performances and projects aimed at casting a new light on the classical repertoire. I also regularly team up with like-minded people on projects at the intersection of classical and contemporary music. Beside my solo projects, I also work with the Cello Octet Amsterdam, orchestral collective s t a r g a z e as well as pianist and composer Chad Lawson.

From solo concerts and chamber music to orchestral performances, tours with internationally acclaimed bands, festivals and the BBC Proms, I've got a diverse background and am a versatile musician who's always on the look out for new challenges.

Let me know if you'd like to work together - I bring my strong work ethic and sense of humour to every project, along with excellent qualifications in the form of a Bachelor Music (Hons 1 and University Medal)/ Bachelor Arts (Philosophy) as well as two master's degrees (Musikhögskolan i Malmö, Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag)."