Together with composer and KonCon teacher Martijn Padding, we are looking behind the scenes of the recording process of his composition White Eagle by our Ensemble Academy.

About the Ensemble Academy

The Ensemble Academy is one-year specialisation, and it is intended for students who would like to combine their main subject studies with a specialisation in contemporary ensemble playing. The Ensemble Academy is a collaboration of the Royal Conservatoire with Asko|Schönberg, European Ensemble and the Ensemble Klang. As a student in the Ensemble Academy, you become part of a contemporary ensemble at the Conservatoire. You work on repertoire and skills in regular rehearsals and performances, under the guidance of teachers from the Conservatoire and musicians from the partner ensembles.

About the Composer

Martijn Padding (*1956) has a fascination for transparency and contradictions between the logical and the illogical. In his work he looks for subtlety rather than the grand gesture. Although his pieces often take their cue from a technical musical starting point, his work increasingly contains a theatrical element. In his recent work, his characteristic angularity and concise harmonically structured language are less prominent. His aesthetic recognizes no hierarchy among modernist elements, influences from pop culture or historical classical principles, for example. In December 2022 Padding resigned from his position as the Head of the Composition department which he held for 16 years. He still is a Teacher at our Composition Department.