The composers for the TROMP International Percussion Competition of 2024 have been confirmed. Aart Strootman will write a composition for vibraphone and guitar samples for the semifinals. Strootman studied classical guitar and composition at Conservatory Fontys & Zuyd and at the University of Utrecht he obtained a MA in Musicology. In 2019 he received the most important composition prize of The Netherlands, the Matthijs Vermeulenprijs. His work has been performed by renowned percussion groups, such as Slagwerk Den Haag and Sandbox Percussion.
For the final, David Dramm and Martin Fondse will collaborate to write a modern concerto. Dramm's composition studies began with Robert Erickson at University of California, San Diego and, later, at Yale University with Louis Andriessen and Earle Brown. The Dutch press describe his music as ‘the ground-breaking terrain between Charles Ives, Jimi Hendrix and Lou Reed.’ Martin Fondse is a jazz and contemporary music pianist, composer and arranger who won the prestigious Dutch Boy Edgar Prize in 2017. The customarily accepted boundaries between genres like classical music, jazz, Latin and world music simply do not exist in his world.
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