[types field=”instruments”]

Intimate music for the Müller-Organ in Haarlem’s Grote or Sint-Bavokerk, inspired by John Dowland’s Lachrymae Antique.

My father was born on a farm outside of Haarlem, my mother was a city girl. During the 20th century the farm land was swallowed by the city and my father’s birth house was torn down for a mosque. Both my parents are gone know. My ties to the city feel tight, but have become increasingly thin.

The commission by the International Organfestival Haarlem is personally important to me, since it is tied to my roots. I dreaded the grand emotions stirred by this and Downland’s music and Sweelinck’s interpretation of it, gave the direction I needed to compose Lachrymae.

With an instrument as the Haarlem’s Müller-organ it is very tempting to make it roar. Instead, in Lachrymae, the instrument will sound as light as a feather.