Maarten Altena

Maarten van Regteren Altena (born January 22, 1943 in Amsterdam ) is a Dutch composer and double bass player .

Live and act

Altena studied double bass at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (graduated in 1968). After 1980 he took composition lessons from Robert Heppener .

Since 1968 he has played in various classical and jazz music ensembles. In addition to the Nederlands Ballet Orkest, there were jazz groups from Marion Brown , Hans Dulfer and Theo Loevendie and later from Willem Breuker and Burton Greene . In the founding years he played in Orkest De Volharding and in Misha Mengelberg's Instant Composers Pool -Tentett . Since the mid-1970s he has improvised with Derek Bailey , with Paul Lovens and in Günter Christmann's Vario projectAnd later with Peter Kowald and North European melody and improvisation Orchestra of Sven-Åke Johansson . In addition, he also gave solo concerts with improvisations and his own compositions. Together with Michel Waisvisz he organized various concert series.

In 1978, Altena founded his own group, initially as a quartet, which was expanded in the 1980s and renamed the Maarten Altena Ensemble (today: MAE ) and performed more and more complex works with improvisational elements. He increasingly concentrated on composing, but also suggested that other composers write for the group. In 1997 he stopped playing in his own ensemble and only worked there as a “musical choreographer”. Since 2005 he has been writing primarily for other groups.

Works

In addition to numerous compositions for the Maarten Altena Ensemble, works for other ensembles and musicians such as:

First Floor (1989) for the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble

Speaking (1990) for the Nieuwe Slagwerkgroep Amsterdam

Pitch (1990) for the Mondriaan Quartet

Stave (1988) for the tenor saxophonist Peter van Bergen

Toonzucht (1991) for the singer Jannie Pranger

Puls (1993) for the drummer Johan Faber .

Secret instructions (1992) for the Nederlands Studenten Orkest

Code as music for a film by Henk van der Meulen (1992)

Zijdelings Afgesproken (1996) based on a text by Frank VandeVeire for the Maarten Altena Ensemble and the theater group Discordia

Mijlpaal er trilt iets (1998) Musical theater based on a text by Remco Campert for the Hollandia theater group

Album (2001) for clarinetist David Kweksilber

Mouthpiece II for the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble

The Great Man (Nietzsche) (2003) for the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble

Dans for the Maarten Altena Ensemble and the dance group Leine & Roebana

Prizes and awards

In 1978 he and Waisvisz received the prestigious Wessel-Ilcken Prize .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Altena, Maarten
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	van Regteren Altena, Marten
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Dutch composer and double bass player
DATE OF BIRTH	January 22, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH	Amsterdam