EXTRA PRIZE 2024 – HELEEN HULST AND GERARD BOUWHUIS

In honor of Willem’s 80th birthday. Decided by the board of the Willem Breuker Foundation.

Report by the board for the Extra Prize – Heleen Hulst violin and Gerard Bouwhuis piano.
by Olga Zuiderhoek, Willem’s widow.

Ladies and gentlemen, yes, this award was rigged, and yes, Gerard and I perform together. Maar wat er ook gebeurt er klinkt muziek (‘Whatever happens, there will always be music’) has been running for five years, and can still be seen in Amsterdam and all over the country, in the month of December.

Heleen is our reliable partner for the live sound. And as a surprise, she will join us and enchant the audience with George Antheil’s music.

Heleen once told me: ‘Willem is a soulmate, because we both try to create beauty, and not beauty for beauty’s sake, but beauty because it’s real, ugly beauty sometimes, ugly because it’s real.’

Which takes me to Louis Andriessen, who wrote an obituary on Willem for the New York Jazz magazine DownBeat in 2010. It takes the form of a letter he had wanted to write to him: ‘Dear Willem, I fear that you have no idea how strongly you have influenced me. I won’t mention the influence of your political ideas, anarchistic behaviour, rude jokes and camaraderie. First and foremost, it’s your playing: the bass clarinet solos in the early 1960s, with a hundred times more intelligence and virtuosity in the use of extended techniques than the complete oeuvre of Iannis Xenakis. But the most important thing for a composer is your mastery in choosing the right notes while improvising: unreliable and disturbing. This letter would have been ten times longer. But now it’s too late.’

Unreliable and disturbing, daring to be ugly… this is exactly what Heleen meant.

For the youngsters in the audience: Louis Andriessen and Willem were co-founders of Orkest De Volharding, a long, long time ago… after this they each went their separate ways.

Be it as it may: at the Nieuwe Ooster cemetery I sometimes talk to Willem and bring him up to date about the ones who left us: Maarten van Norden in September, and a bit later Willem van Manen, a.k.a. Babe, both of whom we commemorated on 20 October here, at the Bimhuis.

And although I’m fully aware that Willem doesn’t respond, I did discuss with him the fact that when he would turn 80, he should be given a present. The foundation’s board enthusiastically embraced the idea. And Rosita Wouda, who is organizing this circus, assured me that there would be no objection to award an ‘extra prize’. I said: ‘Aha.’ I told her that Willem is still on my shoulder, sharing his thoughts, during the performances of Maar wat er ook gebeurt er klinkt muziek,, but also when we’re building up or breaking up the set, which we do without complaining or nagging, just like the Breuker Kollektief. And I can hear Willem think:

’Award this prize of mine to the Bouwhuises! ’ The board immediately replied: ‘Yesss! For their tireless efforts to promote contemporary music, as performers, as initiators and organizers of various musical projects. Great musicians, who also invest their energy in making music possible and sharing it with everyone.

In other words: this is our present to Willem.

In conclusion: Willem’s father worked at the tannery of the slaughterhouse at the Cruquiusweg in the east of Amsterdam. And as a devout socialist he was given a pension of seven guilders a week! That’s why he said to Willem: ‘Always make sure you’ll be your own boss, my son.’

Gerard and Heleen must have heard these words. In 2005 they started their own little collective: Nieuw Amsterdams Peil, in short: NAP. They sometimes extend it with other musicians, under the name of NAPZAK.

But NAP is Heleen and Gerard, they determine the course (in more than ample open dialogue) and they keep things going.

In addition, they are also incredibly active members of the Splendor collective.

Let’s listen to these powerful advocates of new music, and their guests: Peter van Bergen, Paul Koek and Koen Kaptijn. They will first perform a piece by Peter, and then they will have their way with a composition by Willem Breuker. It will be accompanied by images of all of their projects and the odd little picture of their life as house boat dwellers: Gerard and Heleen.

(Translation: Herman te Loo)

Board WillemBreukerStichting
Sieuwert Verster
Vera Beths
Saskia van Schaik
Hans Roze
Olga Zuiderhoek