Pianissimo

Peter Prommel (percussion, vibraphone) and Thomas Myrmel (composition, sound engineering) create a concert centered on silence, stillness, meditation, and slowly evolving sound. This is not music that is constantly driving towards a destination, but rather a musical space where small changes are given the time to be heard.

At the heart of the piece is a blend of Terry Riley’s In C and the Indian Raga Bhairav—two musical worlds (West and East) that, in their own distinct ways, invite a different mode of listening: attentive, patient, and almost ritualistic.
The music moves in waves. Motifs recur, sounds shift slowly, and rhythms change either imperceptibly or very gradually. There is little musical information, yet precisely this creates space to perceive the subtlest differences: a change in resonance, a shift in timbre, or a new relationship between silence and sound.

It is minimal music in the most literal sense: a minimum of rapid changes, fast-paced rhythms, and new musical ideas. At the same time, there remains plenty of room for interpretive freedom. Those small freedoms can suddenly capture your attention—precisely because you have been given the time to truly listen.

Beforehand, Peter Prommel will give a brief introduction to mindful listening: how attention works, why we are so easily distracted, and how we can practice simply noticing the sounds—without immediately judging whether something is "happening."

In short, it is a meditative concert that focuses above all on meditative listening. You may have attended his lecture on meditative listening (on August 26 or September 9), and you can certainly apply those insights during this concert.

The program features minimal music (themes that remain virtually static yet evolve slowly), Raga Bhairav (alap), and music by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kate Moore, Terry Riley, and Thomas Myrmel.

Member concert
Splendor can only be the independent and free hub that it is, thanks to the members who support us. We pay them back with our specialty: music. Every year, all Splendor musicians play one concert that's free for this crucial group to whom Splendor owes its everyday existence. Combined with many other events, this means that our members have free entrance to over 50 concerts a year for €9,99 p/m (and €4,99 p/m for minima and students!) – and receive a discount for all other concerts. Pretty good deal, right?

The members enable Splendor to remain independent, which is the only way to secure real freedom in programming, experimentation, risk-taking and the promotion of young, upcoming artists. If you can think of another place without a central programming, where last-minute concerts can be planned any moment, where there is no backstage and artists and audience are constantly mingling and hanging out at the bar, where mysterious creative outbursts can be presented that are often labeled 'too risky' elsewhere, and that still guarantees high quality by unleashing the best of The Netherlands' music scene in this creative playground – you get a free membership!

Would you rather just visit this concert without becoming a member? You're more than welcome! Buy your ticket(s) below.