I am Willem, a Marimba soloist, drum kit performer and teacher, and all round percussionist. I was always interested in drumming at a young age. When I was very little I could not stop drumming on pots and pans in the kitchen! I then received a drum kit for Christmas when I was seven years old and started lessons with Bert Schilperoort. I continued with Bert for many years, who was and still is a true inspiration to me. For many years I also gained experience of playing in percussion groups led by Cambridgeshire Music's Mark Aldous. I also studied Tuned Percussion under expert teacher Mark Aldous. I was then taught by Belgium solo percussionist Professor Jessica Ryckewaert. I recently graduated from Leeds College of Music with a first class honours as well as the The Rotary Club of Leeds Cooke-Webster Prize earned from achieving the highest mark (95%) in my end of year recital. I currently work in special needs education striving to create a model to use music to help children develop their skills in both music and other subjects.
I also run projects throughout the year including my rock school Cambridgerocks.com, coorporate enterainent (seen in musical events) and percussion groups working on varied music around the globe.
I also run projects throughout the year including my rock school Cambridgerocks.com, coorporate enterainent (seen in musical events) and percussion groups working on varied music around the globe.
Repertoire I enjoy playing many different styles of music such as Classical, Jazz, Rock, Reggae, Pop, Metal, Latin and others. My repertoire includes Orchestra Timpani - Noyes Fludde, Mars (Holst). Beethoven's 6th, 7th and 8th and 5th symphonies, Coriolan Overture, Haydn Symphonie 104, Shubert the Great, Weber Der Freizchutz Overture. Solo Timpani - Tangents - James Campbell Timps and Tape- Jan Bradley Xylophone - An American in Paris Glockenspiel - The Sorcerer's Apprentice Vibraphone - Out of Africa, The Planets, Pictures at an Exhibition. Orchestral Bells - Also Sprach Zarathustra Taxi horns- American in Paris Snare drum - Scheherazade Solo Snare drum - American Suite - Guy G Geauthreux. Solo Marimba repetoire including: Concerto with orchestra - Ney Rosauro Yellow after the rain- Mitchell Peters Marimba Flamenca- Alice Gomez Little Windows- Keiko Abe Rhythm Song- Paul Smadbech Libertango- Eric Sammut A Cricket Sang and Set the Sun- Blake Tyson Rain Dance- Alice Gomez Hombre D'Aout- Eric sammut Flight of the Bumblebee- Rimsky Korsakov Variations on Porgy and Bess - Eric Sammut Astral Dance - Gordon Stout Strive to be Happy- Ivan Trevino Multi-Percussion solos: Canned Heat - Eckhard Kopetski. Marimba and Percussion Duos Catching Shadows- Ivan Trevino Insomnia - Cody Holmes Blue Motion - Stephen Whibley Tocatta - Andreas Kopel Digga-Deegot- Dave Jarvis Quiver- Damien Harron Vibraphone repertoire: Bee, Lila- Emmanuel Sejourne Skyway, Mysterious- Rudd Wiener As well as many other pieces! Shows Drum Kit - Oh What a Lovely War, The Wizard of Oz Drum kit - Turn of the screw Timpani- Noah's flood Timpani and percussion- Les Miserables Timpani- Beggars opera Percussion - La Boheme with Leeds youth opera. Popular Xylophone - TV and film theme tunes Drum Kit - band work |
Further orchestras and ensembles: I have also performed in many orchestras such as The Cambridge Sinfonietta The Cambridge Heidelberg Montpelier Orchestra (CHMYO), under conductors from France, Germany and England The Cambridge Graduate Orchestra (where we performed the lengthy Mahler 6). The Cambridgeshire County Youth Orchestra I currently play in a variety of ensembles in Leeds college of music including Chamber Orchestra, wind band and New music collective as well as performing with orchestras outside of college including the Picadilly and Leodian Symphony Orchestras. I also perform with the Hatfield band in Brass band competitions around the UK and recently won the Huddersfield areas moving into the champion section. I am also the second half of In-Sync percussion duo who are a new and exciting percussion group aiming to tour around the Uk in the future. |