Ten RNCM brass students recently took part in a significant staged performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s aus Licht, presented in collaboration by Holland Festival, Dutch National Opera, Royal Conservatoire The Hague and Stockhausen Foundation for Music.
The marathon event at the Royal Conservatoire, featured a 15-hour selection from the cycle’s seven operas, one for each day of the week, offering a spectacular overview of this incredible 29-hour masterpiece.
Dominic Longhurst and Daniel Tarrant (trumpets), Matt Lait and Joshua Allen (tubas), Peter McDonough, Ho Lam, Samuel Noden, Emily Matthews (euphoniums), and Nat Martin and Edwin Farrar (baritones), travelled to The Hague on five separate occasions for rehearsals, ahead of the three-night run on 1, 5 and 9 June.
Nat said: ‘I know all of us from the RNCM have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this once in a lifetime experience. Getting to play the incredible music of Stockhausen under the direction of Kathinka Pasveer and Adrian Heger has been highly educational as well as good fun and we’d all like to extend a sincere thank you to them and Dutch National Opera for having us over.’
Manus Carey, Deputy Principal (Performance and Programmes), added: ‘We strive to present performance opportunities that provide our students with real-world experiences, both in the UK and internationally, and this unique project is a clear example of this. The sheer scale of this production can’t be underestimated, and I know that the 10 brass students will have learnt a tremendous amount from their time in the Netherlands.’
