Mayke Nas

Head of Department, Main subject teacher Composition

If ever there was a composer of mischief, it’s Mayke Nas (*1972), the artist responsible for making the piece of music that most resembles Bart Simpson writing lines on a chalkboard (I Delayed People’s Flights By Walking Slowly In Narrow Hallways). Mayke Nas makes ephemeral und uncertain music, reaching out for the best in non-solutions. The way she talks about her music, you’d think you were an accomplice, there at the moment she commits her crimes. She dares and probes, recalibrating the listener’s self-conscious until it’s working on her level, until certain lunacies feel entirely within their rights. Her music is majestically referential, her world is a stopgap for culture rather than a bubble protected from it. In a time where art, news and life all travel without context - in which the funniest stuff we see online makes absolutely zero sense - Nas perfectly captures weirdness, and how we’ve become so very familiar with it. (Robin Smith / HCMF)


Mayke Nas was awarded with:

Matthijs Vermeulen Aanmoedigingsprijs 2003
Anjer Muziekprijs 2005
Fellow Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD 2011-2012
Kees van Baarenprijs 2015
Componist des Vaderlands 2016-2018

For more information, please also check http://www.maykenas.nl