On January 14, our Artist in Residence Joost Willemze (harp) will usher in the new year. Not only Joost can be heard at this wonderful New Year's concert but also the winner of this year's Bunschoten Youth Prize, Liam Nassereddine (piano) and Paulia Bilá and Mauro Cottone can be heard at the Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam.
Door opens at 16:00h so you can get hot chocolate or a Glühwein before the concert starts at 16:30h.
Joost Willemze
Joost Willemze (born 1996) is one of the greatest Dutch harp talents. He has been a prize winner at various national and international competitions, such as the International Harp Competition in Wales, the Gershwin Competition in New York, the Concours Godefroid in Tournai and the Korea International Harp Competition; he won the international harp competition in Porto in 2017 and the Italian competition Suoni d'Arpa in 2018, and won prizes at the Prinses Christina Concours. In early 2022, he recorded his debut CD with AVROTROS Klassiek.
For the Grachtenfestival 2024, he will fulfill the role of Artist in Residence.
Liam Nassereddine
Only thirteen-year-old Liam Nassereddine has been playing the piano since he was six years old. Liam puts a lot of feeling into his piano playing and tries to bring the audience into his story. Also the winner of the Bunschoten Prize 2023 awarded during the last edition of the Grachtenfestival.
Paula Bilá & Mauro Cottone
A full Spanish singing voice and a deep Italian double bass sound, that briefly describes the unique sound of Paula Bilá and Mauro Cottone. Since they met in Amsterdam in 2021, Spanish singer Paula Bilá and Italian bassist Mauro Cottone have been working together. Their shared interest in jazz, Spanish music and improvisation inspired them to work together and so they developed their own duo repertoire for voice and double bass, supplemented here and there by Paula's guitar. In this intimate setting, they explore Paula's soulful original compositions inspired by her southern Spanish roots, duo arrangements of obscure jazz standards and well-known Spanish and South American songs. Perfect to kick off the new year with!
A great start to a new year that will feature the Grachtenfestival from August 23 to September 1.