Description
The music of the forgotten Dutch composer Gerhard Hamm (1835-1904) was an exceptional and purely accidental discovery. After a concert, one of the composer's descendants gave me a stack of scores. It turned out to be beautiful and poetic music, completely buried under the dust of history. In 2021, I made a first recording with works by Hamm. A significant amount of music was still hidden in the national archives that deserves to be heard. Hamm meant a great deal to the cultural life in the south of the Netherlands. He lived in Venlo for most of his life. He was a member of music and literature societies and considered it important to be connected to a broad collective in order to advance the arts. He has a vast musical legacy as a composer, conductor, soloist, and teacher and wrote a total of approximately 500 works for various ensembles and instruments. "You always strive for the listener to hear and feel your artistic intentions. It is wonderful and inspiring to speak with the audience after a concert and hear about their favorite piece, their impressions and their experiences. There is still so much music to play and to discover from all era's. I'm really looking forward to dive into new repertoire, to play music by composers of today and to play chamber music with many great colleagues in beautiful places. I learn a lot about myself and others through music." Camiel Boomsma
