The Big Loud Thing | Orkest De Volharding

Free-spirited, colorful and cooperative – the saxophones, brass instruments and rhythm section of Orkest De Volharding effortlessly combined contemporary music with jazz, pop and avant-garde.

Orkest De Volharding is an icon within Dutch ensemble culture. They were at the foundation of hundreds of works by leading composers, they fascinate audiences to this day and Orkest De Volharding is a great source of inspiration for the next generation of artists.

To honor this unique orchestra and its anniversary, 2022 being the 50th anniversary of the founding of Orkest De Volharding, Ensemble Klang, for whom Orkest De Volharding has always been a source of inspiration, joins forces with young musicians and the musicians of Neo-fanfare 9×13.

Together they set five decades of the rousing Volharding repertoire in a series of pop-up concerts, The Big Loud Thing. The five pop-up concerts include works by Louis Andriessen, John Luther Adams, Hanna Kulenty, Misha Mengelberg, Steve Martland and many others.

De Volharding, a joint work

The foundation for Orkest De Volharding was laid in the fall of 1971, when Louis Andriessen began working on a piece in which he himself would also participate as a performing musician. Andriessen (1939-2021) is one of the most influential composers of his generation. He played an important role in the emergence of Dutch ensemble culture and is considered one of the founders of the so-called Haagse School. Music of the Haagse School is characterized as rhythmically energetic, loud, averse to neo-romantic sentiment and often amplified or electronically manipulated.

The members of Ensemble Klang met while studying at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, the birthplace of the Haagse School. Among their teachers was Louis Andriessen.

Pete Harden (artistic director and guitarist of Ensemble Klang) on The Big Loud Thing

“With Ensemble Klang, we are always thinking about what an ensemble actually is, and how we can continue to develop. To answer this you can look forward, but sometimes the answer lies in the past.

That is why we delved into the repertoire of Orkest De Volharding. It is an insanely diverse collection of more than 300 works including many masterpieces that are barely played. In addition, in the first ten years of Orkest De Volharding, some of the most important and influential musicians of the past 50 years were members of the ensemble, including, of course, Louis Andriessen, Willem Breuker, Maarten Altena and Jan Wolff. There is an incredible power in those musicians that makes the ensemble not only interesting to listen to, but also to watch.

The Big Loud Thing is therefore not only an ode to the repertoire, but also to the way of thinking and communicating with the audience. The concerts and music belong to the collective, it is really done together. That is why we play these concerts in the foyers and not in the concert halls. In fact, we want to get close to the (new) audience.”

The Big Loud Thing concerts at Amare take place prior to events in the main hall and in the entrance foyer. Admission is free and it is not necessary to book a ticket.