The ULYSSES Network supports young composers with co-commissions. In this framework,  Gaudeamus co-commissions a new work to a ULYSSES composer each year, together with other ULYSSES Network partners and for varying instrumentation.

In 2021, the Dutch composer Aart Strootman is co-commissioned by Gaudeamus (NL) and Divertimento Ensemble (IT).
Aart’s star is rising, after winning the annual Gaudeamus Award (2017) and the biggest Dutch prize for contemporary music, the Matthijs Vermeulenprijs (2019). He dedicates his new work to Black Page Orchestra, the Vienna-based ensemble, selected as one of the young ensembles to be supported by the ULYSSES Network.

Aart’s piece is premiered in April 2021 at the Music Biennale Zagreb, one of the ULYSSES Network’s associate partners. The Black Page Orchestra is then touring to Milan in July 2021, where the piece is performed again on an invitation by Divertimento Ensemble, before being performed in Utrecht, during the Gaudeamus Festival in September 2021.

© Anna van Kooij