press quotes

Huid (2016)
composition for 3 percussionists, choreography for 4 players
Boukje Schweigman, director, Theun Mosk, scenographer
Slagwerk Den Haag, Schweigman&, Arnoud Noordegraaf

premiere: October 2016, Stadsschouwburg Utrecht

★★★★ Trouw 25 oct 2016

"Huid is een knappe zoektocht naar manieren om van het voelen muziek te maken'"

★★★★ Theaterkrant 24 oct 2016

"In intieme of juist uitgesproken heftige scènes raken spelers en slagwerkers met elkaar vervlochten. Een fascinerende en soms onverwacht komische trip"

more info on the Huid project page

As Big as the Sky (2015)
opera
for 4 soloists, ensemble, sheng, samples and film
premiere: June 2015, Holland Festival, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam

more reviews and press releases on the Sky project page

UrWald (2013)
music theatre and feature film for ensemble Nieuw Amsterdams Peil, actor Porgy Franssen, en on film a.o. Sytske van der Ster en Hylke van Sprundel. premiere: October 2013, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam

 

★★★★ Volkskrant 15 October 2013, Biëlla Luttmer

"Musically there's the lean power of pianist Gerard Bouwhuis (...) but also the enchanting lines on a muted trumpet, accompanying the sinister schizophrenic character Sylvain on film (...) Occasionally film and music comete for attention, at other moments the form a counter point of complementing voices. The ways in which Noordegraaf shifts these from fore- to background is one of the attractions of this new work."

 

★★★ NRC Handelsblad 17 October 2013, Joep Stapel

"UrWald is an innovative interplay of film and live music, with narrator Porgy Franssen as binder. (...) Noordegraaf's exciting, rhythmical music was attractive. (...) A coral of raw chords disembogued in a spectacular musical finale."

 

Muziek van Nu 11 October 2013, Marianne de Feijter

"What a venture... Especially clever is the way Noordegraaf connects 'everything to everything else'. The suspence-enhancing music with the intriguing images (...) Unrivalled, it all just fit."

 

more reviews and press releases on the official UrWald website

A.M. (2010 / 2011)
opera for 4 musicians, soprano and two-channel film installation. Holland Festival, June 2011

 

★★★★ NRC Handelsblad 10 June 2011 by Jochem Valkenburg

"[the press preview] showed what an enchanting, moving and at times funny show this is. (...) The music adds to a beneficent immersion in loneliness and the atmosphere of nightly Tokyo. (...) Music and images strongly melt together..."

 

Brabants Dagblad 5 August 2011, Mark van de Voort:

"Sold out flat no less than three times in a row at the Holland Festival (...) a poetic show, subtly balancing between stylized film art and modern opera. (...) beautiful stilled shots of a displaced city by night (...) De music is sparsely instrumented, at no point the composer overplays his hand."

 

VPRO Radio-4 Blog

"The images on the big screen are beautiful. The intimate setting in the hall appeals to the imagination."

more reviews and press releases on the official A.M. website

Fugue (2012)

New York Times 2013 by Michael Nagle

"In Arnoud Noordegraaf’s psychologically dark and unsettling “Fugue” they even took on visual form as she played standing behind a sheer screen. ... creating an arresting duality of sound and image. A distinctive aspect of Ms. Germino’s playing is her earthy and sharp pizzicati, and in this piece they seemed to trigger the recorded images like snapping brain synapses."

 

The Strad magazine (US) 2013 by Bruce Hodges

"Perhaps most striking was Arnoud Noordegraaf's Fugue, performed behind a screen on which were projected additional images of Germino, synchronized to pre-recorded tracks"

 

Moving Music

VPRO Radio-4 Blog (NL) 2011 by Miranda Driessen

"‘Moving music’ by the Calefax reed quintet was staged and directed in a remarkable tasteful way by Arnoud Noordegraaf."

 

Muze (2007)

CultuurPodium (NL) 2007 by Barbara Klomp

"music theatre for baritone, cello, percussion, sound tracks and film: "The music together with the estranging set and film images triggers a magnificent dream-like feeling, leaning towards hypnotising."

 

Pong (2003)

The Australian (AU) 2006

"The brilliant tragicomic film Pong by Dutch composer Arnoud Noordegraaf added depth to the evening, bringing yet another point of discussion to a thoughtful and rewarding program."

 

Solitude (2005)

De Subjectivisten (BE) 2005 by Mark van de Voort

"perfect and poetic balance between spacial image and three dimensional sound ... one thing is clear: this tastes like more, much more."

Volkskrant (NL) by Marian Buijs

"It's the atmoshpere and the tranquility that stick with you, the stillness that belongs to loneliness. In the midst of the festival turmoil an oasis of calm."

 

Voyager (2004)

De Telegraaf (NL) 2004 by Bela Luttmer
"Noordegraaf is a remarkable multi media talent. (...) Voyager is a beautiful, multi-layered unity of text, images and music. Images from space and raw electronic sounds merge into the warm mezzo voice of Marieke Koster (...) Through the quirky combination of texts, video and music, a unique language takes on shape, captivating through the end."

NRC Handelsblad (NL) in 2004 by Ernst Vermeulen

"... hardly less fascinating was Voyager for singer, tape and video by Arnoud Noordegraaf, who managed to reach a remarkable unity in mood and style."