Robert van Heumen Composer Improvisor Laptop-Instrumentalist Sound-Designer
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newsarchive2
| news archive2 (pretty recent - that is, on nov 20, 2006) | |
| oct 28 / 2006 So the pictures of Anne LaB and me i was talking about didn't work out well. We'll do another session... But we have been brainstorming about a name for the duo, and Anne wants to base it on 'restriction' - instead of defining a structure for a piece and letting the material completely free (as we do a lot with OfficeR and SKIF++) we want to take a look at restricting the material and see what happens. So the name will probably arise from that aspect. Maybe Gyve? Or Haft. How does that look? Haft - Anne LaBerge and Robert van Heumen play electronics and flute, based on restriction. Or: Gyve - Anne LaBerge and Robert van Heumen play electronics and flute, based on restriction. Maybe we'll have an online vote, and then screw those votes around 'till we're satisfied ;) This thursday we've had an evening concert at STEIM, curated by Lebanese trumpetter Mazen Kerbaj, wellknown for his blog and his drawings: Kerblog. Himself, with Australien guhzeng player Clare Cooper, his companions Sharif Sehnaoui on guitar and Tarek Atoui on laptop, and STEIM residents Michel Waisvisz and dj sniff. The first (acoustic) set was totally in the vein of this very quiet, soundbased, layering acoustic music - beautiful, but for me sometimes too comfortable. I kinda miss the fireworks, which I'm sure all of these people can produce. The second set with Michel, dj sniff, Tarek and Mazen was my favorite - a very nice balance between the acoustics and the electronics, with similar sounds made by electronics and acoustics. Unity. The third obligatory 'all together' set was not really good. Just too many people, and on top of that Tarek started to do some beats, which made it even more blurry. Today I've been doing some admin to wrap up the N tour in the US. Boring, but I just have to do it. Didn't have time yet to sort out all 3455600 pictures, but I didn't want to let you miss out on this:  .
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| oct 22 / 2006 That's a while without updates... I promise to better my life and write something every week. We're just back from the N Collective Tour in the USA. It was musically a big succes - great to be able to play two weeks straight. The audiences differed somewhat: the Sonic Circuits festival was a big succes in that respect: more than 75 people a night, in a rather small space. In NYC it was kinda disappointing though. Well, in the end it's just a matter of quality I guess: we had a big crowd for the SKIF++ lecture at UMBC, but they weren't very enthousiastic in general, while the 4 people that came to my STEIM presentation at Sonic Circuits were very eager to hear it all... I also played my 5.1 surround composition Fury (after anger) at Sonic Circuits and Diapason Gallery (NYC), and had some good feedback on that. I was definitely very happy with the sound in both places. I'll post soundclips and pictures soon. More details about where we've been can be found here: humanelectric.net. Yesterday me and Anne LaBerge had our pictures taken by Capri (the old Kraakgeluiden photographer). We're working on promotional material to get some work for our, as yet unnamed, duo. The keyword will be 'restriction'. On a personal level: I've been travelling to the US westcoast and Iceland, both great places, although Iceland really took my breath away (sometimes quite literally). Let me know if you want to see some pictures of the beautiful scenery. |
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| may 15 / 2006 Solitude & The Holding The interactive IMOTO installation The Holding, a cooperation with visual artist Margret Wibmer, will be shown at the Kunstpavillion in Innsbruck as part of the exhibition 'entering a strange field'. The show will open on May 18.  The audio-visual composition Solitude will play again, this time at the Festival a/d Werf in Utrecht, on May 26 & 27, and in Effenaar in Eindhoven on June 18. http://www.effenaar.nl/ http://www.huisaandewerf.nl/ http://www.inexcelsisvideo.net/solitude/ http://west28.nl/solitude/ "Solitude is very strong in the perfect and poetic alignment of spacialized visuals and threedimensional sound.That's also where further possibilities lie for Noordegraaf and Van Heumen, because one thing is clear: we want more."  |
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| mar 30 / 2006 So we've spend a couple of weeks at STEIM's studio 3, with both OfficeR and SKIF++, and are momentarily remixing. The SKIF++ recs sound promising, there are some clips on humanelectric.net. Concerts and the like coming up: { } April 3: SKIF++ at STEIM's Frascati concert, Amsterdam { } April 4: SKIF++ at the )toon) festival in Haarlem { } April 17: Anne LaBerge, Jodi Gilbert, Meinrad Kneer and Robert van Heumen at Kraakgeluiden, Amsterdam { } April 19-27: N Collective tour to Aalst (Belgium), Geneva and Berlin As always, more info on humanelectric.net { } May 16-21: working with visual artist / clothing designer Margret Wibmer on her installation 'The holding' on the exhibition Strange Fields in the Kunstpavillion in Innsbrueck { } May 26 & 27: Solitude will play at the Festival a/d Werf, Academie Theater in Utrecht { } June 18: Solitude will play at the Effenaar in Eindhoven |
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| feb 28 / 2006 The first OfficeR CD: 'Mundaine occurences and Presentations' is released! Tracklisting: 1.Relative in Enmity for the Members* 2.Operation Gratefulness to Articulate** 3.It Makes Events Circle Around it* 4.Different Methods to Achieve Music (and Pre-Recorded Percussion)* * from the structure number 1 series **from the structure number 3 series More info on Lampse. 
Review in The Wire (March 2006):  |
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| feb 3 / 2006 Developed over three years of research by the artist, Lifeguards is a dual screen audiovisual installation that examines the way culture is embedded in speech and how identity is constructed through language. Lifeguards is an audio-visual piece by Smadar Dreyfus. Audio mix by Robert van Heumen. You can hear a snippet of the piece in the sound section. Of course completely out of context, but hopefully it will make you curious... 
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| feb 2 / 2006 Especially for STEIM's Noiseroom I've contructed a 5.1 surround piece, called '12 Bullets'. You can hear a snippit in the sound section. From the STEIM mailing:
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| jan 28 / 2006 A dream come true! I bought a Lincoln Continental from 1973. Called her Suzie. |
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| dec 26 / 2005 Plans for 2006 (more info on humanelectric.net): { } Feb 25: N Event w/ OfficeR, SKIF++ and MoHa! + Fredrik Hana at Sonic Acts XI { } March: Limited N tour in Istanbul with Jeff Carey, Bjornar Habbestad, Oguz Buyukberber and Robert van Heumen { } April 4: SKIF++ at the )toon) festival in Haarlem, The Netherlands { } April 21/22: N Event in The Cave, Geneva { } April 26/27: N Event in Berlin { } November 9: N Event in theater Kikker, Utrecht |
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| dec 16 / 2005 Auto Reverse, a one-minute-movie i've made with Maarten van Rossem, will be showed on dutch television on saturday dec 17, Kijkers, Villa Achterwerk, Z@pp (Ned 3) - around 18:00h. |
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| nov 9 / 2005 Solitude is playing again, at November Music in Gent and Den Bosch on the following dates: Wed 16 November, 21.30h - November Music Festival, Gent, Belgium (location: de Vooruit) Sun 20 November, 14.00h, 15.00h and 16.00h - November Music Festival, 's Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands (location: Verkadefabriek) 
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| nov 6 / 2005 There are a couple of concerts coming up. Hope to see there! More info on humanelectric.net. { } November 8: SKIF++ at 'het proeflokaal' of Theater Kikker in Utrecht { } November 14: De Schaak & humanelectric at Zaal100, Amsterdam { } November 23: STEIM's local stop concert with SKIF++ and more - at STEIM, Amsterdam { } November 24: N Event 8, with the Mayas/Nutters/Olsen/Galvez quartet, DBO+R and Pho+J - at Worm, Rotterdam { } November 26: SKIF++ at TAC, Eindhoven { } November 28: N @ kraakgeluiden with Nicolas' Buttercup Metal Polish percussion, Morten SC3 solo, Buyukberber/VanHeumen and OfficeR - at kraakgeluiden, OT301 Amsterdam { } December 18: POW Connections - at gallery <tag>, The Hague |
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| oct 1 / 2005 new server! let me know if something isn't working... |
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| aug 24 / 2005 The first performances of Solitude were succesfull. We played it 6 times at the Boulevard festival, trying out different settings of the screens in the space, of which some pictures can be found here. There were two newspaper reviews (de Volkskrant and Brabants Dagblad) and one internet review on subjectivisten.org. Some quotes (in dutch - translation in progress): Solitude ontleent zijn grootste kracht aan de perfecte en poetische afstemming tussen ruimtelijk beeld en driedimensionaal geluid. Daar liggen ook verdere mogelijkheden voor Noordegraaf en Van Heumen, want een ding is wel duidelijk: dit smaakt naar meer, veel meer. (Mark van de Voort) Het mooie van Solitude is dat de makers heel veel middelen en stijlen ter beschikking hebben, maar zich uitstekend weten te beheersen. Ze gebruiken de technieken (zowel artistiek als qua apparatuur), maar de techniek lijkt eerder een middel dan een doel. In Solitude gaat het om de grote gedachte achter alles. Dat concept komt helder naar voren en verklaart elke artistieke keuze. Door deze aanpak is Solitude zo intens dat je vooraf de gebruiksaanwijzing niet hoeft te lezen. Het werk is even goed als het boek en ontplooit zich vanzelf. Het komt zelden voor dat de verstilde ervaring, die bij lezen en bij eenzaamheid hoort, zo goed in bewegend beeld en geluid wordt gevat. (Joost Heijthuijsen) |
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| july 20 / 2005 The audio-visual piece Solitudeis finally getting in shape! I'm making this piece with Arnoud Noordegraaf, more info and playlist here → solitudeSound clips can be heard in the sound section of hardhatarea. |
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| july 19 / 2005 THINGS coming up (more info on humanelectric.net):
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| july 19 / 2005 After my trip to other worlds (San Francisco Tour) I've been busy with a couple of things. First there were the performances with Voer (popband with Vera van der Poel and Oene van Geel). This was an experiment in combining melody and rhythm based music with the more sound oriented improv that I usually do. We had 4 concerts, of which especially the one during the Jazz in Duketown festival in Den Bosch was packed. This concert was also recorded for the VPRO radio program 'Is dit nog wel jazz?'. The concert in the Bimhuis was nice, as was the SJUhuis one (during the festival 'De Avond van de Kortste Nacht'). At the Haarlemmerhout festival the noise of the other activities was so overwhelming that all details were lost... Other performances I did the last couple of months: with SKIF (duo with Jeff Carey) at Extrapool in Nijmegen and at <tag> in The Hague. At <tag> I also did a duo with bass clarinet player Oguz Buyukberber, as a preparation for his end exam at the conservatory in Amsterdam, and we did a finale all three together. With OfficeR we also played the Bimhuis, as a double bill with Apricot My Lady (group with Anne LaBerge and Lukas Simonis). Sounds in the sound section of humanelectric.net. As a composer I've made a small ditty for Anouk van Dijk's piece Derivatives, that she's performing with local dancers in the US. |
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| april 24 / 2005 The separation is finally there: west28.nl will mainly be presenting my composed work, with some fringe activity like a bio and some links, whil humanelectric.net will focus on performances (soundclips and a listing of upcoming concerts). |
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| april 24 / 2005 A lot has happenend since I last sat down to update the hardhatarea. I've visited Bergen, Norway, where OfficeR played at N Event 5, during the Borealis New Music festival. Bergen is a beautiful city, and we were lucky to have a lot of snow �nd a lot of sun while we were there. Unfortunately the N event was scheduled at a rather late time, which left us only the hardcore festival audience. Similar low numbers showed up at my STEIM / LiSa presentation at BEK, the little Norwegian sister of STEIM. Not sure if the Norwegians are not very keen on going out of their house for these kind of experiments, or that a lack of promotion was to blame... At any rate, both the festival and BEK as organization seemed to be focussed on local people - very little international content. And if you're going to be around in Bergen: definitely climb the mountain with the train - beautiful views! The other trip lately brought me to San Francisco, where I hooked up with Michel Waisvisz and Joel Ryan, who had just visited the CHI (Computer Human Interface) conference in Portland / Oregon. I had organized some concerets and presentations in SF, which I was surprised to find was not very hard to arrange. There were all without decent fee, but they were gigs after all. We were going to play some of these concerts with Laetitia Sonami and Roddy Schrock, both Bay area residents. It started with me doing a STEIM / LiSa presentation at The LAB, an artist space in the Misson district, that started much later than scheduled, again because of a not so thrilling audience size. But 30 minutes after the scheduled time there were actually about 10 people present, interested to hear what I had to tell. After the presentation we did a concert, starting with Pamela Z doing her solo set. Followed by Roddy and me in a duo set, which was actually the first time we played together, but it turned out nice I think (clips can be heard on humanelectric.net). After us Joel remixed Evin Parker recordings, and Laetitia and Michel finished it off (Michel ending actually with sleeping on the floor under his table - busy week?). The second event was at Mills College. We were welcomed very warmly by John Bischoff, and a decent audience showed up. A lot of wellknown faces: Chris Brown, James McCarthy, Bob Ostertag, Naut Humon, Ikue Mori, Otomo Yoshihide. As the space was a really big concert hall and we couldn't get the monitors to work, it was very difficult playing. But I believe we pulled it off. After that the events were less grand, but no less fun. I went to a local improv venue in Oakland, organized by Damon Smith and Scott Looney. The group musicians was rather big, with 2 Swedish players, 6 locals and me. The place was more or less the living space / studio of Scott, but actually enough space for the musicians and the 10 people in the audience. We did some tuttie sets, and some duo's / trio's quartets. The last gig on my last day was a duo gig with Roddy and me, where actually two friends of Roddy showed up to join us. Which was good, because the place (rxgallery) had barely done anything to promote the demo and concert, so there was 1 guy I did my presentation for, and 4 people (not including the musicians) to hear our music. Roddy and me both did a solo thing (I actually performed a live version of Solitude, the (composed) piece I'm working on at the moment), and Dorsey Dunn and his friend did a duo. During our stay in SF we also visited the new Recombinant Lab Compounds of Naut Humon / Asphodel Records in SOMA (SF). The space was not finished yet, but seemed very promising. 3 or 4 studios with multi channel systems, of which the biggest was going to have a 16.1 surround setup. In the same building are also a couple of spaces for lodging and a great green terras. Hopefully we are going to be able to spend some time there in the future :) In general I enjoyed my stay in SF very much. I found the city to be relaxed, and very light in character. Lots of beautiful views over the bay and the sea, and lots of green parks for a nice stroll on a sunny afternoon. On my way back to Amsterdam I stopped by for two days in New York City, for a presentation at Harvestworks. That turned out to be really nice, with about 14 people attending, and most of them stayed the 2 hours I spend mostly talking... It goes without saying that I loved to be in NYC again.Even when flying in from SF it felt like coming home.... Now the focus will be very much on working on the Solitude audio-visual performance. More on that later. |
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| mar 1 / 2005 >>> listen to my contribution to the fabulous quiet american 1-minute-vacation website <<< |
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| feb 20 / 2005 a review of the SKIF concert in galapagos (misstaken for a robert van heumen solo concert??) at boilingpoint.nl 'Robert Van Heumen is zonder meer een digitale artiest die niet alleen een solide achtergrond heeft die alleen al vrijwel garant staat voor een interessante kijk en benadering van digitale muziek, maar die ook al performance indruk maakt.' |
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| feb 6 / 2005 ivo bol & robert van heumen - shredding text @ local-stop concert series STEIM studios 2005 - feb 9 - 20:00h 'Ivo Bol and Robert van Heumen both use STEIM's LiSa for live performance and as composition tool. In this performance they present their research into the boundaries between text and sound by shredding different texts and bouncing it back and forth between the two LiSas.' |
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| feb 5 / 2005 kraakgeluiden seminar 'Different Codes' february 7th - at OT301 amsterdam seminar 14:00h / performance 21:00h Beppie Blankert - dance Robert van Heumen - LiSa & Sexy Controllers Michael Moore - clarinets Daniele Graca - dance Gert Jan Prins - sound makers & TV Wilbert de Joode - double bass |
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| jan 25 / 2005 && sounds online @ humanelectric.net (SKIF at subtonic) (textshredders @ steim) && kraakgeluiden / OT301 amsterdam / january 31: Stefan Pliquett - double bass Robert van Heumen - Sexy Controllers Miriam Overlach - harp Naomi Sato � saxophone |
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| dec 11 / 2004 new gigs coming up.....
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| nov 27 / 2004 seamus and robert will play at 66 east / amsterdam on december 23d: ' Robert van Heumen (NL) and Seamus Cater (UK/NL) are both musicians, composers, improvisers and digital sound artists based in Amsterdam. Their individual works span composition for modern dance, film and free improvisation. For this improvised laptop performance, expect a sonic relationship to the 66 East space and the exhibition. ' |
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| nov 27 / 2004 ivo bol and robert are researching text in a LiSa duo @ STEIM studios |
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| nov 25 / 2004 natrium (the video) - cooperation between maarten van rossem (camera) & robert van heumen (sound) - probably never to be seen on dutch television - check out the video section of humanelectric.net also on humanelectric.net::
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| nov 7 / 2004 a STEIM roundtable concert will take place at the Forum Neues Musiktheater, Stuttgart, on nov 11, with:
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| nov 6 / 2004 just launched: humanelectric.net website of humanelectric the artist |
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| okt 11 / 2004 STAU - the fourth installment (Amsterdam Frascati oct 13 & 14 / Poznan oct 16 & 17) - a choreography in progress by anoukvandijk dc - live music by Robert van Heumen |
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| sept 20 / 2004 first kraakgeluiden of the SEASON OF BAD ART POLITICS monday sept 27 - 21:30h seamus cater / laptop and stuff robert van heumen / LiSa, sexy controllers jack wright / trumpet nate wooley / saxophone |
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| sept 3 / 2004 Kraakgeluiden @ Gaudeamus: fri sept 20 - 23:00h Mary Oliver /�violin, viola Domenico Sciajno / electronics James Wilkinson /�trombone, electronics Robert van Heumen / LiSa, sexy controllers Rachel de Boer /�video � Bettina Neuhaus /�dance |
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| aug 20 / 2004 it's been quiet on west28.nl because of various summer projects:
fall 2004 projects:
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| july 7 / 2004 review of the n collective / field recordings 12 / new from holland volume 1 cd on Kinda Muzik (in dutch...): [...] nu komt ook het Haagse X-Or-label uit met een zorgvuldig samengesteld overzicht van een groepje actuele experimentelen. De opnames van N Collective's News from Holland - Volume 1 zijn gemaakt op cruciale plaatsen in Amsterdam: de elektronische studio van STEIM, jazz-bolwerk Zaal 100 en het Amsterdams conservatorium. Jeff Carey (elektronica), Koen Nutters (contrabas), Morton J. Olsen (slagwerk) en Robert van Heumen (laptop) vormen de kern van een groepje gelijkgestemden dat opereert onder de naam N Collective. Het is een creatief stel, met veel en vooral goede idee�n. Het is X-Or weer eens gelukt om ons te wijzen op een nieuwe richting in de Nederlandse experimentele muziek. Dat het hier gaat om een eerste deel van een reeks stemt hoopvol en maakt nieuwsgierig. The cd is available at X-OR or at the better music stores near you! |
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| july 6 / 2004 The N Office presents: The next N Event: This Thursday the 8th of July at STEIM (Utrechtse-dwars-straat 134) / 21:00 FREE ENTRANCE Three short sets / cheap drinks / nice hanging Featuring: Office-R(6) (after 5 days of recording and super tight) PHO (On the rebound back in full force el/ac noise) Thai on Top (Your subtle colors with 'money' and 'the office') & DJ Scumbag Visuals by Neslo N & Kay & Office-R(6) Koen Nutters & bass, structure Robert van Heumen & laptop Jeff Carey & laptop Sakir Oguz Buyukberber & bassclarinet Dirk Bruinsma & soprano and baritone saxes Morten J Olsen & drums/percussion PHO Bjornar Habbestad & flutes, analogues, and digitals Nicolas Field & drums Morten J Olsen & drums Thai on Top Morten J Olsen & percussion Matthias Engler & percussion |
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| may 7 / 2004 solitude sample now also available at Get Records / utrechtse straat / amsterdam |
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| may 1 / 2004 Solitude review in The Wire "Robert Van Heumen plays laptop for OfficeR, a dutch organisation dedicated to a merger of live and electronic improvisations. For his new solo work, Solitude Sample (hardhatarea promo 3"cd), Robert has put together four tracks based on text by Paul Auster. This is not to infer that there are many audible words - far from it. The sounds here are sparse and extremely minimal. There's one part where some people are making mouth noises in the background while a guy tries to get into his car with a can opener, but apart from that, most of the events here sound like they're electronically generated (or treated) and are open to any kind of narrative interpretation that the listener may care to create. My favorite has to do with robotic rabbits attempting to chew their way into cyberspace (by strategy), but yours may be rather different. And why not?" For more info on getting a copy of Solitude Sample, please email solitude [at] hardhatarea [dot] com or buy it at paypal (€8.00 including shipping). |
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| may 1 / 2004 dansserver.nl added video clips of various choreographies, one of them is diva by anoukvandijk dc |
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| april 27 / 2004 heumo joined the breedster community - 'very interesting' (according to pj galvin) |
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| april 5 / 2004 N event 2 (CD presentation) / X-OR record release: Field Recordings 12: The N collective thursday april 29 (Night Before Queensday) from 19:00 until late Mediamatic Supermarket, Amsterdam (on the corner of Rapenburg / Nieuwe Foeliestraat) Showcasing the N ensembles: >> OfficeR electro-acoustic sextet >> 87Central >> Thai on Top (a.k.a. The Brothers) Percussion Duo >> PHO(-1) and: >> DJ KODI >> Scenography by Martin Butler >> Visuals by Neslo N & Brian mcKenna OfficeR is: >> Koen Nutters / Bass >> Robert van Heumen / Laptop & sexy controllers >> Morten Olsen / Percussion >> Jeff Carey / Laptop >> Oguz Buyukberber / Bassclarinet >> Dirk Bruinsma / Saxophones 87Central is : >> Jeff Carey / electronics Thai on Top is: >> Morten J Olsen / Percussion >> Matthias Engler / Percussion PHO(�1) is: >> Bjornar Habbestad / feedback flute >> Morten J Olsen / Drums |
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| april 5 / 2004 >> Drink Me choreography by Anouk van Dijk / music by Robert van Heumen april 13 - may 1 / 20:00h Compagnietheater Amsterdam (Kloveniersburgwal 50) / 020-5205320 september - december 2004, on tour |
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| april 5 / 2004 >> A Special Drink Me Night featuring the OfficeR electro-acoustic sextet saturday april 24 / Compagnietheater Amsterdam (Kloveniersburgwal 50) / 020-5205320 20:00 - Drink Me / the choreography 21:30 - OfficeR electro-acoustic sextet OfficeR is: >> Koen Nutters / Bass >> Robert van Heumen / Laptop & sexy controllers >> Morten Olsen / Percussion >> Jeff Carey / Laptop >> Oguz Buyukberber / Bassclarinet >> Dirk Bruinsma / Saxophones |
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| march 10 / 2004
At barton workshop / maximum clarity on wednesday march 24th: the Faulborn three + oguz - Robert van Heumen (LiSa) / Christine Wildbolz (double bass) / Anne Faulborn (clavichord) / Oguz Sakir Buyukberber (bassklarinet) |
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| feb 22 / 2004
STAU is playing in schouwburg rotterdam, on march 3d |
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| feb 19 / 2004
< kick > < off > of drink me, a new choreography by anoukvandijk dc, music by robert van heumen |
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| feb 14 / 2004
OfficeR is playing at steim on saturday feb 19th - come and see and hear! |
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| feb 2 / 2004
STAU / research version of a choreography by anoukvandijk dc / with music by robert van heumen / presented in Amsterdam, Studio Dok, feb 11, 12, 13 & 14 |
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| feb 1 / 2004
OfficeR is playing at kraakgeluiden on monday feb 9th |
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| [news archive] | |