Kapok tour dates & poster

Here are the dates for Kapok's Flatlands release tour! Come check us out. Tickets for the release on February 4 are limited, you can reserve those at www.roodnoot.nl/kapok.

1 feb P60 Amstelveen

4 feb Rood|Noot Utrecht

5 feb Twee Spieghels Leiden

6 feb Bakkerij Castricum

9 feb Blue Note Amsterdam

14 feb Bimhuis Café Amsterdam

16 feb Trianon Nijmegen

21 feb Café Tango Delft

26 feb Porgy en Bess Terneuzen

4 mar Projekt 072 Alkmaar

Kapok's new album just came in!

Check out the cover of Kapok's first album, Flatlands! We just got the boxes in today, and we're so proud of the beautiful artwork by Peter Kolpa and photography by Krijn van Noordwijk (see the photos at facebook.com/kapokmusic). We'll be releasing it on February 4 at Rood|Noot, a beautiful old farmhouse/cultural haven at the outskirts of Utrecht. We've invited all the awesome musicians who joined us on the album, and to top it off we'll be serving snert (Dutch pea soup - it is the middle of winter, after all). More info & tour dates - 10 concerts all over Holland in February - to come soon!

New composition for NESKO

I've been invited to write a new composition for the Netherlands Student Chamber Orchestra (NESKO), to be performed in April 2012. The piece will be part of a program that includes Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, Prokofiev's A Summer Day and his First Symphony (the "Classical Symphony").
I'm planning to write my own piece inspired by Prokofiev's great music, maybe stealing some of his tricks. I've started gathering ideas a few days ago, interested to see where this will lead me. With chamber orchestra you don't have the spectacular firepower of a large romantic orchestra, so hopefully I'll be able to be a bit more subtle and dig a little deeper in terms of harmony and structure. More to come soon.

Kliphuis, Erker, Sun!

Tomorrow, November 12, Mete Erker (tenor saxophone), Yonga Sun (drums) and I will be joining forces for a very special set at the Jazzfest Amsterdam. We got together at very short notice for this project - hence the late announcement - and we'll be taking a very free approach. Some melodies, a few ideas, and lots of improvisation. I feel very lucky to be playing with these inspiring musicians, come check it out!

Jazzfest Amsterdam, Sat Nov 12

Studio/K, Timorplein 62, Amsterdam

Doors open 16:00 - we play at 19:15

Free of charge

MK Trio @ Kytopia @ Tivoli

Coming Saturday, October 1, I'll be playing with the Morris Kliphuis Trio at Tivoli Utrecht, as part of a special Kytopia night - all the different artists working at Kytopia will be presenting their music. We'll be playing brand-new material from our upcoming album.
We're playing our set at 11 pm - it's gonna be special for sure, come check it out!

Yuri Honing Quartet & Morris Kliphuis

Coming Friday, September 30 I'll be joining the awesome Yuri Honing Acoustic Quartet at De Doelen, Rotterdam. After a set of the band's own music, I will join them as a guest for the second part of the show. We'll play some music highlighting the influence of the great trumpeter Louis Armstrong. Looking forward!
For details, check the website.

Efterklang Project Returns! In Ireland

In February we did some shows at the Crosslinx festival with Efterklang & Daniel Bjarnason and their Messing Orchestra. The project was so much fun that Efterklang invited us for another gig at the Reich Effect festival in Cork, Ireland. So now we're here, rehearsal will start in the evening.
Yesterday we saw the Kronos Quartet playing Steve Reich's music, including the famous piece Different Trains, with Reich himself in the audience. Powerful stuff.
The gig is at the Savoy Ballroom, Cork on Sunday the 31st, if you happen to be around!

MCN moet blijven!

Het is, juist bij bezuinigingen, van het grootste belang dat er goed wordt nagedacht over de vraag welke organisaties de Nederlandse muzieksector draaiende houden, welke van structureel belang zijn voor een kwalitatief en kwantitatief gezond muziekleven. MCN/Donemus is onmiskenbaar een van deze pijlers. Het opheffen van deze organisatie zou een enorme schade toebrengen, juist aan de basis van ons muziekbestel: de ondersteuning van ondernemende kunstenaars, de stimulering van nieuwe projecten en samenwerkingen en het beheer van de schat aan Nederlandse muziek uit heden en verleden die Donemus herbergt. En dat terwijl MCN bij uitstek een organisatie is die de zelfredzaamheid van de kunstenaar, die dit kabinet zo hoog in het vaandel heeft, stimuleert.

Dat de voor goed bestuur noodzakelijke visie, analyse en besluitvorming totaal, maar dan ook totaal ontbreken bij ons kabinet doet het ergste vrezen voor de toekomst. Het is schrijnend dat het vakmanschap en de aandacht die onontbeerlijk zijn om als musicus behoorlijk je beroep uit te oefenen jammerlijk afwezig zijn bij de mensen die pretenderen ons land te kunnen leiden.

Teken de petitie voor behoud van MCN hier.

MK8 at Museum Speelklok, May 11&12

Next week, May 11 & 12, Museum Speelklok in Utrecht will be hosting the grand opening of their new concert podium.
For the occasion a number of artists will be playing unexpected collaborations with exhibits from the museum for automatic music. The show is hosted by Sven Ratzke and will feature Dutch heroes VOF de Kunst, Wouter Hamel, Christiaan Kuyvenhoven, Joseph Haydn and MK8 & Lucky Fonz III!
Come check this out, tickets at www.museumspeelklok.nl.

New guitarist, new album for MK Trio

The past few weeks have been hectic for the Morris Kliphuis Trio.

First of all, we have parted ways with guitarist Daniel de Moraes. We would like to thank Daniel for the wonderful years of collaboration and the enormous musicality, humour and taste he has brought to the group, and for all the things we have learned from working together.

Secondly we are very excited to have found a great new guitarist, Timon Koomen, and we look forward to an inspiring musical journey together.

And last but not least, we've just finished recording our debut album at the Kytopia studios in Utrecht. It features a mix of original compositions and free improvisation pieces. The album will feature a number of guests, including Ernst Glerum (bass), Joshua Samson (percussion), Marc Constandse (bandoneon) and the Ragazze string quartet.

Mixing will start in May, I will post some tracks here soon!