SARAH WALDER AMATA MUSIC
CONCERT PROGRAMS
Currently, I offer four different concert programs. Cello Trip and Cello Trip Early Music are both programs for solo cello with loop station and work best in spaces with beautiful acoustics. In the program 750 Years, 4 Players and 1 Storyteller, the various instruments and periods of music that I play are introduced as snapshots, in historical order, with superb assistance from two musicians, a storyteller and a mime. 750 Years works best in theaters and spaces with flat floors. The Cello Project is a performance art project designed to awaken people to their surroundings and to demonstrate that classical music can be many things besides boring. It can be performed (nearly) anywhere, including outdoor and indoor public spaces and museums.
For more information about any of the programs, operational costs or bookings please contact me!
01
CELLO TRIP
Music for solo cello and cello with loop-station. Includes the masterly suites of Bach, groovy compositions by Tjerk van der Ham, and my own compositions for cello with loop-station. Easy fun funky sweet scratchy angry bold spacious music with something for everybody to enjoy.
Comments from concertgoers in 2016:
‘My sister loved the first half. I loved the second half. Our tastes are so different, we haven’t been to a concert together for years. This was perfect!’
'My kids loved it so much we came back for the second performance!’
‘Who knew that you could do all that with a cello!’
‘Fun fun, fun!’
02
CELLO TRIP:EARLY MUSIC
A trip back in time. The masterly cello suites of Bach complemented by my own compositions for cello and loop-station, which are inspired by medieval tunes and renaissance counterpoint (with a bit of dramatic Baroque flair).
Comments from concertgoers in 2016:
‘I love what you do. You make ‘classical’ music so accessible!’
'I would never have come if I hadn’t seen you performing on the street [AZ Project], I am so glad that I did!’
‘I loved recognizing Sarah’s references to early music, like the Dies Irae melody at the beginning of the second half!’
03
750 YEARS, FOUR PLAYERS, ONE STORYTELLER
Sarah takes on the epic challenge of time travel! Experience how her stringed instruments fit into the music - and art - of the last 750 years.
A storyteller briefly sets the stage. The ethereal and poignant 15th century Cantiagas de Santa Maria seem to emerge out of silence, after which the refined Renaissance dances and counterpoint of Diego Ortiz seem nearly jolly. Bach’s first suite gets a surprising makeover by Tjerk van der Ham, and Sarah and Sjoerd embark into the 20th century together with a semi-improvised mime corporel piece inspired by Dutch painter Jan van Herwijnen’s portraits of the dead from ca. 1945. The program ends with a surprisingly listenable set of pieces written by Sarah for cello with loop-station that graciously reflect back upon the her personal connection with the last 750 years of music; the gap is bridged between electronic improvised music and historical performance practice in a most surprising fashion.
Concert Demo (video) - 8'53"
Sarah Walder - vielle, viola da gamba, Baroque cello, cello, loop-station;
Cora Schmeiser - voice and hurdy gurdy;
Rene Genis - ud, Renaissance guitar and Renaissance lute;
Sjoerd Schwibettus - mime;
Sander de Jong/Tjerk van der Ham - storyteller
Projections of portraits by Jan van Herwijnen
Comments from concertgoers in 2016:
‘It brought me to tears’
‘What a versatile player! Had I known how great this was going to be I would have brought the whole family.’
04
SARAH WALDER:
THE CELLO PROJECT
…a performance art project designed to integrate art into the commonplace.
Many people have little exposure to classical music. Many people believe that classical music, and by extension classical musicians, are boring at best and elitist and divisive at worst.
In 2016, Sarah Walder imagined her Cello Project into existence in an effort to change these preconcieved notions and engage her community. Classical music can also be funny, lovely, heartbreaking, life changing and downright silly! And given a chance, Sarah believes that most people will find it has something to offer.
The Cello Project is a continuously expanding project and consists at the moment of The Arizona Project and The Nederland Project.
THE ARIZONA PROJECT
