On Friday the 4th of November 2022 the duo Maarten Ornstein- Mike Fentross and Diamanda La Berge Dramm receive the Willem Breuker prize during a concert in BIMHUIS. Mike Fentross is a teacher at the early music department and Diamanda La Berge Dramm is an alumna of the Royal Conservatoire.

The bi-annual Willem Breuker prize is intended for someone who shows affinity with the inventive and boundary-pushing way of working of Willem Breuker. It could be someone who writes/performs music, a programmer, an organiser, a producer of non-commercial music, or someone who combines all these qualities in a single persona.

The board of the Willem Breuker Foundation saw with sorrow that musicians were forced to cancel their performances during the time of corona. As a result of that in 2021, the Breukerprice couldn't be awarded. To make up for this, the board decided to hand out two prizes in 2022. One for the duo Maarten Ornstein-Mike Fentross and one for Diamanda La Berge Dramm. The prize consists of 15.000 euros and an artwork from Wim T. Schippers which will be handed over to the laureates by Olga Zuiderhoek.

From the jury report:
'The duo Maarten Ornstein- Mike Fentross managed to place the traditional in the present, by mixing old and new music cultures from different parts of the world in a subtle way. They accumulate surprise after surprise and explore the boundaries between western-European classical music, Baltic folklore and improvisation'

'For Diamanda La Berge Dramm it is natural to use countless different means of expression together with her violin playing to translate her own physical emotions into music. She is an authentic appearance in the instrumental domain in which she is a role model in using the instrument as a means and not a goal.'