The Nederlands Studenten Orkest is on tour with four students from Erasmus MC. They will visit all major Dutch music halls and tonight, on the 17th of February, they play in De Doelen.
The Nederland Studenten Orkest (NSO, Dutch Student Orchestra) will be playing in De Doelen on the 17th of February. The question they’ll be posing to their audience is loosely translated to, ‘What makes a poem?’. The response will be formed under the guidance of Jurjen Hempel who has proven himself to be an accomplished director around the world. Four students from Erasmus University are part of this year’s NSO. One of them is Joppe Drop, a 20 year old medical student playing the oboe from the tender age of nine and from Rotterdam.
Demanding audience
Together, the students in the orchestra engage in what Joppe considers one of the ultimate experiences of life, namely, playing music together for an eager audience. According to Joppe, the audience for classical music can be demanding. “There can be quite some pressure to satisfy such a crowd, but you keep in mind that you’re playing in an orchestra and that focus, no matter what, must come first.” Joppe is especially looking forward to having Rotterdam as his audience, even more so because he thinks the classical scene in the city is not necessarily big, “For instance, Utrecht’s classical scene is far more developed, more important so people are also more involved.”
What Makes A Poem?
The Nederland Student Orkest consists of 92 students and will be playing Lebam, a composition by Matthias Kadar, Sea Pictures by Edward Elgar and Symphony nr. 10 by Dimitri Sjostakovisj. Collectively, this program responds to the question of what makes a poem on several levels. Matthias Kadar is notable for expressive writing and has composed pieces in relation to poetry before. Sea Pictures is a composition written by several Dutch poets in conjunction with Dimitri Shostakovich’s nr. 10 symphony, this celebrates the death of Stalin and Shostakovich’s survival. NAH/photo Eduardus Lee
Tickets are still available at the door for €21 and the show begins at 20.15 and ends at 22.30 at the Grote Zaal in De Doelen. More information can be found here.
