Domenico Scarlatti, François Couperin and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
When van Amsterdam first heard Fantasia in F sharp and Variations on La folia d'Espagne by German composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, he was immediately sold. The accordionist believes that Johann Sebastian's most famous son gets far too little attention and decides to to change this. It turns out that the CPE Bach's special style of expressiveness and capriciousness lends itself extremely well to the accordion, which, through alternating use of the registers, lets the music sound in all its facets.
And what happened in the rest of Europe in the 18th century? In Paris you have François Couperin; one of the most important composers at the court of the Sun King and at the Spanish court the Italian migrant worker, Domenico Scarlatti, is active. The playful and the dynamic compositional style of these composers creates a nice contrast with their aforementioned German contemporary.
About Vincent van Amsterdam
Vincent van Amsterdam is a great promoter of the classical accordion. He graduated cum laude from Fontys University of the Arts in Tilburg, both his bachelor's (2012) and his master's (2014) studies. He is a laureate of various (inter)national competitions. , such as the Princess Christina Competition (2007), the National Accordion Competition (2008 and 2009), the International Young Musicians Competition in Milan (2009) and the Coupe Mondiale in Croatia (2010). In 2014 he was awarded the professional jury prize of the Grachtenfestival Conservatory Competition and on June 19th he won the Dutch Classical Talent Award 2016. Vincent van Amsterdam began his studies with his father, Evert van Amsterdam, and then studied with Ronald van Overbruggen and Gerie Daanen. During his master's degree he studied at the Hochschule fur Musik in Würzburg with Stefan Hussong and at the Gnessin Music Institute in Moscow with Vyacheslav Semyonov. His repertoire ranges from Baroque to contemporary music; especially for his participation in Dutch Classical Talent 2015/16, the The Performing Arts Fund awarded a grant to Maxim Shalygin for a new composition for solo accordion.
From Amsterdam Duo
Vincent van Amsterdam likes to collaborate with other musicians and has performed with guitarist Aart Strootman, percussionist Dominique Vleeshouwers, trombonist Sebastiaan Kemner, soprano Zinzi Frohwein and carillon player Boudewijn Zwart. Since 2004 he has also formed the Van Amsterdam Duo. Together they recorded the album A Flight Beyond Time in 2012 and two years later the solo CD Classical Accordion followed.
