Googling oneself always yields surprises. There’s a young pianist named “Annie Ku” who won a piano competition. There’s a violinist named “Anne Ku.”
And then there’s “Robert Bekkers” whose youtube clips show our duo and trios. But here’s one that I’ve not seen before.
Harry is the singer. Gaston, the recording engineer in Belgium. And Robert Bekkers, the guitarist.
I wrote on my Facebook that I was visiting Boston for classical music and brain candy. I timed my arrival so I could attend Robert’s solo guitar concert at the New England Conservatory. Little did I realize that Boston had the highest concentration of colleges and universities — and with that, brain candy.
My graduate school classmate Kathryn, who specialized in corporate governance after running several restaurants, coined the term “brain candy.” Our brains need topics to chew on. It’s more fun to share candies than chew alone.
Before Robert’s solo guitar recital began, I recognized someone from a distance. It was the composer Tom Peterson whose piano sonata I had played, recorded, and blogged about. I had last seen him in Phoenix in early November 2010. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona. What was he doing in Boston?
Before Phoenix, Robert and I had invited him to dinner in London where he was finishing his masters degree at the Royal College of Music. Before London, we had met, for the first time, in Cortona, Italy, in July 2007.
As it turned out Tom was in Boston to see the Celtics game that same evening. He had seen the announcement of Robert’s guitar concert on Facebook. He decided to surprise us. Actually he was in this part of the world for another reason — the premiere of a commissioned piano solo piece for the Fisher Prize in New Haven, Connecticut.
Tom, his tuba-player friend, Robert, and I convened at Uno Grill and Bar Restaurant after the recital. We chewed on music for brain candy. When we parted our ways, Robert and I went to yet another concert that day — a string quartet in Jordan Hall.
I don’t think I have had such an in-depth discussion of classical music, composition, and performance since last summer in Utrecht, Netherlands, where we made brain candy out of music.
I have forgotten what it’s like to travel via mass public transit and eavesdrop. In the Netherlands, I could not, but here in Boston I could. On the “T” which is also the oldest metro system in America, I overhear conversations among students, teachers, business people, and tourists. Sometimes I get the urge to join them. Maybe that’s how I’d get more brain candy!
Filed under communication, composer, composition, concert, culture, guitar, personality, travel
When I changed the generic title of the mp3 file to “Prelude in d” while preparing the last blog post, the file list automatically reordered alphabetically in itunes. Just above the newly renamed file was “Prelude for Anne.”
Listening to it brought back memories of my early days with Robert Bekkers, who wrote and played the guitar solo piece for me.
Prelude for Anne by Robert Bekkers (mp3)
It was the first time anyone had composed a work dedicated to me. I am pretty sure of that. I was not only flattered but genuinely taken by it. I suppose it’s like receiving a love letter, a love poem, or a gift that is totally original and unique. Such is the gift of music — a composition written for a person and dedicated to that person.
Robert Bekkers in London, April 2001
Shortly after I met Robert in Amsterdam, I organized a small house concert in my home in London in April 2001 in which Robert played several solo pieces. I cannot remember for sure if he included this prelude as I did not mention it in my blog. Nor did I list it in the subsequent house concerts.
Somehow I do recall a premiere and several performances. But when and where?
Would this blog post jog his memory? Or inspire him to find the sheet music?
Before I left the Netherlands, I recorded a CD of three piano duets with Carol Ruiz Gandia for my Call for Scores project followed by several solo pieces that were easy to sightread. Three of the solos came from my collection of music by the Amsterdam-based composer Heleen Verleur.
What a joy it was to find Verleur’s Prelude and Fugue in D minor on my bookshelf! Sightreading the set brought back memories of my first concert in Bussum, Netherlands in March 2002. Back then, I was still working full-time as an energy magazine editor, shuffling between London where I was based to the New York head office and various conference locations. Music was a pastime, a favourite hobby, and an insatiable passion.
If you visit our Bekkers Piano Guitar Duo website, you’ll see that the very first concert is listed in 2002, a year after I met Dutch guitarist Robert Bekkers. That “afternoon of diversity” concert in a Lutheran church in the town of Bussum (east of Amsterdam) featured the music of Heleen Verleur for piano solo and piano and violin as well as that of Astor Piazzolla. In preparing for that concert, I wrote of my expectations of that event where the guest of honour was my childhood friend Leslie from Seattle.
More than 10 years after I met Robert Bekkers and Heleen Verleur in Amsterdam, I would like to share my interpretation of the prelude and fugue, recorded on 4th August 2011 on my 1909 New York Steinway in Utrecht, Netherlands.
Prelude in d minor by Heleen Verleur, interpreted by Anne Ku (mp3)
Prelude in d minor by Heleen Verleur
Fuga in d minor by Heleen Verleur, interpreted by Anne Ku (mp3)
Fuga in d minor by Heleen Verleur
When I searched for “Verleur” on my e-mail programme, I discovered several e-mails of mp3 and concert announcements from Heleen. Now that I have more time in Hawaii, I hope to listen to this backlog of gifts of music, including CDs I received from various composers and performers. You could say that forthcoming entries in this Concertblog will introduce the music I have been collecting during the last 10 years of concertizing and arts management in the Netherlands.
Heleen Verleur official website: http://www.heleenverleur.nl
Filed under composer, composition, concert, mp3, personality, piano, recording, review, sheet music, sight reading, travel
One late evening in Utrecht, Netherlands, I came upon the guitar duo arrangement for Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ “Farewell to Stromness.” I was searching for “Mark Francis” the guitarist and composer who had contributed two piano duets to my Call for Scores. Another guitarist by the same name had arranged the Stromness piece from piano to guitar duo.
The music was captivating from the moment I played it online. Strikingly moving and timeless, I daresay.
That I had written a review of a concert of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies in Amsterdam made the composer’s work even more significant to me. The guitar duo version was so beautiful and instantly addictive that I had to find the solo guitar version for Robert Bekkers to play.
Listening to Farewell to Stromness takes me on a sentimental journey to the past. It’s one of those pieces that will always put me at rest.
I wanted desperately to play it tonight. But I was not able to find free sheet music to download. I could order the sheet music if I can’t find it in the libraries. Or I can simply take the guitar solo version and reverse engineer it to the original piano solo version.
As it approaches full moon and the 10th anniversary of 9-11, I am filled with nostalgia. How else to express that fateful event which changed my life 10 years ago in New York City?
Below is the recording Robert e-mailed me from Boston.
Farewell to Stromness by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, played and recorded by Robert Bekkers (mp3)
If you are curious about the background to the music and the location of Stromness, check out the video. There are also piano, guitar quartet, and solo harp versions on Youtube.
Filed under arrangement, composer, composition, guitar, mp3, piano, research, review, sheet music
Dutch guitarist Robert Bekkers will give his first concert since arriving in Boston on 24th August 2011, to study full-time with maestro Eliot Fisk at the New England Conservatory.
On Thursday 1st September 2011 at 8 pm, the public is invited to a concert of largely solo guitar works and several songs with guitar accompaniment. It’s the first time that Robert Bekkers will collaborate with counter tenor Yakov Zamir, an authority on the vocal works of Franz Liszt. The combination of counter tenor and classical guitar is very unique. They will perform vocal works of Cesti, Scarlatti, and Bellini.
The solo guitar works had earlier received a welcome reception in the Hague, Netherlands, at the Grote Kerk on 7th August 2011.
The audience is invited to socialise with the artists after the concert. Visit the JP Concerts website for information about the performers.
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Jamaica Plain, Boston
(Green Street station on Orange Line)
Thursday 1st September 2011
8 pm
Robert Bekkers, guitar
Yakov Zamir, counter tenor
Prelude, Fuga and Allegro BWV 998 J.S. Bach
El Cathedral A. Barrios-Mangore
Preludio, Andante Religioso, Allegro Solemne
Five Bagatelles W. Walton
Siete Canciones a selection M. de Falla
Intermission
Cappricho Diabolico M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Intorno all’idol mio Cesti
Le Violette Scarlatti
Dolente Immagine di Fille Mia Bellini
Decameron Negro L. Brouwer
Chaconne J.S. Bach
Admission: $10
Robert Bekkers at the Grotekerk, Den Haag on 7 August 2011, The Netherlands
alternative title: by foot, bus, train, plane, metro, foot
How did Dutch guitarist Robert Bekkers travel from his home in Utrecht, Netherlands to Boston, Massachusetts?
The garden house that Robert Bekkers designed, got built, and lived in Utrecht, Netherlands
Walk from home to bus stop. 3 minutes
Take bus number 4 to Utrecht Central Station. 5 minutes
Take the Intercity train from Utrecht Centraal (two a’s) to Schiphol Airport. 25 minutes.
Check-in at KLM counter.
Fly to Paris.
Change planes. One hour is barely enough time to get to the new gate!
Fly to Boston, Massachusetts.
Take the T-line to his final destination in the USA: his new home (below).
The house in Boston where RB lives
Filed under guitar, personality, photos, travel
On Friday 5th August 2011, I spotted two musicians cycling to work. Traffic was hectic on the cobbled stone streets of Utrecht, Netherlands.
“Where will you play next?” I asked the guitarist eagerly.
“I think we’re done for the day,” he turned to the singer.
“Oh! But I’ve been looking for you all afternoon. Can’t you do one more set for me?” I begged.
It’s unusual to hear opera arias outside of a concert hall or an opera production. It’s even more unusual to hear a soprano with a classical guitarist, amid the accordeonists that dominate the streets of this ancient Roman city.
“We’ve already done three sets,” said the singer. “We’re going for a beer now.”
“Look. I’ll buy you a beer. Please let me see you perform. I know a nice spot.”
I led them to a secret garden on the right side of the dome. I had visited there once during a walking tour.
Secret garden in Utrecht (near the Dome)
Guitarist Robert Bekkers and soprano Mirella Reiche had obviously not seen this garden. They decided to try it. Soon the music drew people into the garden.
They were busking on this warm, sunny afternoon in Utrecht. The setting of the secret garden made it into an outdoor concert. The people who were already sitting on the benches refused to leave. Meanwhile, newcomers strolled into the garden to listen.
Robert Bekkers arranged the guitar part for this “Ach, Ich fuhl’s” aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute. The duo introduced this new programme this week.
The announcement of a new acryllic painting by my friend Rob Judkins in Columbus, Georgia made me stop and ponder.
Rob (whom I’ve always called Robby) and I went to high school in Okinawa, Japan where hibiscuses are very common. We have a variety of flowers in our garden in Utrecht, Netherlands — but no hibiscuses. After many years of not seeing such tropical and subtropical flowers in Europe, I nearly forgot how beautiful they are.
When I went to Maui in 2010, I saw them again. Hibiscus reminds me of my wonderful childhood in Okinawa.
Boston Hybrid Hibiscus 4x36 acrylic on canvas by Rob Judkins
Rob Judkins wrote in his e-mail of “Rob’s Latest Painting” the following passage:
The Boston Hybrid Hibiscus is one of my favorite flowers in my yard. The blooms are as large as a dinner plate and last only one day. The plant is about five feet tall and five feet wide. Every morning during June and July and into August there are 10 to 15 new flowers.
Dutch guitarist Robert Bekkers is on his way to Boston. I presume the Boston Hybrid Hibiscus comes from Boston otherwise it wouldn’t have the name. I am on my way to Maui. We will live apart for some time to come — he pursuing full-time studies in Boston while I find my feet in Maui juggling my passions of yoga, music, writing, and more.
I hope to see a Boston Hybrid Hibiscus when I am in Maui.
Filed under art, personality, photos, travel
“Do you always get the place you want?” I ask Robert as he prepares for today’s busking gig.
“No,” he replies. “There’s the charity mafia.”
The charity mafia refers to individuals who knock on your door and ask you to donate to a specific charity. They also operate out in the open, taking up public space, trying to get your attention and philanthropy. Apparently they get paid to ask for monetary donations.
“Why don’t you tell your listeners that you have a cause, too?” I suggest. “You are trying to finance your studies in Boston.”
Private education in America is known to be expensive. Some people spend their entire adulthood paying off college loans. Every penny counts. It’s a justifiable cause to ask people to give for education.
Besides the threat of the charity mafia, buskers are only allowed 15 minutes of play time per location. This means he would have to pack up his heavy concert guitar, guitar case, music stand, and sheet music every 15 minutes. Furthermore, the highly uncertain and changing weather conditions in Holland present clear and present danger to audience engagement.
“When will you be back?” I ask as he prepares to leave at 1:45 pm.
“Five or six.”
“That late? I need you to help me clear the attic. I can’t do it alone.”
Ironically, the more we clear the attic, the more we donate to charity.
Charity begins at home. Why is he seeking the attention of strangers?
Filed under audience, concert, economics, fundraising, guitar, personality, travel
