Tom Wolfs, clarinet, and Niek met each other for the first time playing together in the Young Nederlands Wind Ensemble (in Dutch: Jong Nederlands Blazers Ensemble/JongNBE) and because of curiosity thought of repertoire for clarinet and percussion. Tom, graduated for his Master’s degree cum laude and plays as a substitute in several orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, plays the B flat clarinet as well the E flat clarinet for some pieces and he even hits different percussion instruments so now and then! Niek, also graduated cum laude for his Master’s degree plays marimba, vibraphone, cajon, hand drums, snare drums, shakers and a lot more (smaller) percussion instruments. There aren’t a lot composers (yet!) that wrote for clarinet & percussion so we decided to play existing, (often) old(er) music and arrange it for clarinet and percussion. This worked! We play Bach, Rachmaninov, Bizet, Saint-Seans and a lot more pieces from composers that didn’t even know what a marimba was. On top of that we play commissions, we already have 3 pieces (& counting!) that are written especially for us. How amazing is that! Nowadays we play a lot of different repertoire, often on Dutch national radio (Channel Radio 4), in several concert halls in Holland including Koninklijk Theater Carré, Royal Concertgebouw, at the Herman van Veen Arts Center etc. etc., with a lot of positive feedback from the audience. We’re really glad to here that our duo works! We’re now trying to get more commissions and to participate in chamber music competitions to get a broader audience. Check these videos, there will be more video material coming out soon!
www.wolfskleinjan.com
In this video we play Satin by David Orlowsky, arranged for marimba & clarinet.Concert location: Broerenkerk in Zwolle, Holland.
Here you can see some excerpts of the première of a commissioned piece: Duet for Clarinet and Vibraphone written by Arend Gerds. Première: 13-01-2015 Theater Ludens in Voorburg, Holland.