Quadrivium officially turned sixty on December 1 of last year, but according to Goverts, it is completely normal for an anniversary year to last a full calendar year. “Sixty years is a special milestone for us, so we filled the entire year in which we are sixty with extra special events.”

Collaboration

The anniversary period runs from December 1, 2024, through November 30, 2025. So far, Quadrivium has already put on a wide range of notable performances. “We organized two film concerts, a performance of the world-famous Carmina Burana, and a major concert featuring all our sub-associations at the Muziekgebouw in Eindhoven,” Goverts explains.

The piece is divided into twelve chapters. “Each chapter has its own theme, for example light (Light), water (Deep Blue), but also flight (Wings) and time (The Dance Before Time),” Goverts says.

According to her, you can immediately hear when the piece shifts from one chapter to the next. “The instruments and vocals are tailored to the themes. In the chapter about water, for instance, the cellos and vocals imitate wave-like effects, and in the chapter about time the percussion mimics the recognizable ticking of a clock.”

As intended

Initially, Quadrivium planned to perform a different work by Forrest this Saturday. “We contacted him through his website to purchase the sheet music and sort out performance rights,” says Mingo Calis, president of Quadrivium and cellist in Ensuite. Calis and his fellow members expected to hear from an intermediary, but were surprised when the composer himself replied. “He emailed us saying that he had recently written a new piece—Creation—and asked whether we might prefer to perform that instead, since it had never been played in the Netherlands and would therefore be a national premiere.”

Both Goverts and Calis found it very special to be in direct contact with a well-known composer. “It’s already remarkable to perform a piece written by someone who is still alive,” Goverts notes.

And performing work by a living composer has an important advantage, Calis adds. “When you play older classics, you can never be completely certain how the composer intended it. But now we were able to ask him substantive questions,” he explains. “He really thought along with us, which I think is quite unique.”

Reinforcements

Being able to ask questions turned out to be particularly useful, because Creation is not an easy piece. “In some ways it is very specific,” Calis says. “For example, it includes parts for a duduk, an Armenian flute.” The duduk has a very distinctive sound and cannot simply be substituted, but no one in the association can play it. “In fact, only a few people in the entire Netherlands can.”

Unfortunately, the Dutch duduk players couldn’t help Quadrivium either, so the association began searching abroad. In Germany, they found a duduk society with several experienced players. “One of them will travel here from Germany on Saturday especially to perform with us.”

Besides the duduk, Creation includes other unusual elements, such as using a violin bow to strike the vibraphone and including guitar parts. “Guitar is an instrument that normally isn’t used in orchestral pieces,” Calis explains. Fortunately, the association didn’t need to go abroad for this one. “Someone in our choir also plays guitar very well and was happy to take on these parts.”

The choir was another area where reinforcements were needed. “The piece is really intended for a large choir,” Goverts says. “In videos of previous performances, you sometimes see choirs of up to two hundred people.” Volkollage’s choir does not have that many members, so they reached out to alumni. “Anyone who had ever been a member and wanted to sing could sign up.” In this way, they expanded the choir to seventy singers. “Because many alumni joined, the choir now includes people of all ages. The oldest members are in their sixties, but funnily enough, they often have the most energy,” Goverts says.

Packed house

With a seventy-person choir and roughly the same number of musicians in the symphony orchestra, Saturday will be a packed performance. So packed, in fact, that the musicians won’t fit on the stage of the Blauwe Zaal in Auditorium. For that reason, the Auditorium hall is being transformed into a pop-up concert venue. “A temporary stage is being built near the entrance to the Blauwe Zaal, and the rest of the hall will be arranged for six hundred visitors.”

Renting a concert hall at a dedicated music venue, as they did earlier at the Muziekgebouw, might have been easier. But Quadrivium deliberately chose a location on campus. “It’s our very last anniversary concert, and we want to reach as many people as possible. Of course, lovers of this genre, but also people who might not normally listen to classical music. By hosting the concert here on campus, we hope to make it a bit more accessible.”

Quadrivium’s performance of Creation will take place on Saturday, November 29, at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased via their website.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.