Marco Blaauw is a Dutch trumpet soloist known for his work in the field of new music and withCologne-based contemporary music groupEnsemble Musikfabrik. He plays a double bell trumpet, an invention that has allowed for numerous new compositions for trumpet, including those byErnst von Siemens Music Prize winner,Rebecca Saunders. Blaauw is a consistent faculty member at theDarmstadt Summer Course, theStockhausen Courses Kürten, theLucerne Festival, and the Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar.
Blaauw was born September 23, 1965, inLichtenvoorde, theNetherlands, and began playing trumpet at a young age in the local band. As a young student, Blaauw attended theSweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam and later studied withPierre Thibaud andMarkus Stockhausen.[1]
Blaauw has an extensive solo career, particularly in the contemporary, new, and improvised music scenes. He has collaborated on and premiered several pieces for trumpet solo and ensemble and is well known for his work with composerKarlheinz Stockhausen. Marco was also a founding member of contemporary music groupEnsemble Musikfabrik inCologne, Germany, and appears on several recordings with the ensemble.[2]
Blaauw has performed solo with numerousorchestras andnew musicensembles, including theDutch Radio Symphony Orchestra, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra,WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, theDeutsche Oper Berlin,Klangforum Wien,London Sinfonietta, and Asko|Schönberg Ensemble.[3] He has also performed at festivals such as Musikfest Berlin,Donaueschinger Musiktage,Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, theLucerne Festival, and more.[4]
The focus of Marco Blaauw's work is the further development of the trumpet, its technique, and its repertoire. He works in close collaboration both with the established and younger composers of our time, and many works have been written especially for Blaauw or have been inspired by his playing, includingPeter Eötvös,Rebecca Saunders,Richard Ayres,Isabel Mundry,Hanna Kulenty,Georg Friedrich Haas,John Zorn, andWolfgang Rihm.[5]
Marco Blaauw plays a double bell trumpet. The first model was made by Dieter Gaertner inDüren, Germany, with whom Blaauw had previously worked on various C trumpets. This instrument inspired composerPéter Eötvös to write the first piece for the instrument – "Snatches of a Conversation" – which Blaauw premiered and recorded.[6] In the relatively short life of the double bell trumpet, Marco Blaauw has generated a huge amount of new repertoire for the instrument and helped spearhead development of other double bell brass instruments (now used by Ensemble Musikfabrik).
Since the first iteration of the double bell trumpet built by Gaertner, Blaauw has developed a close working relation with Hub van Laar of Van Laar Trumpets and Flugelhorns inMargraten, the Netherlands. Along with B-flat, C, and piccolo trumpets, Van Laar has also made the quarter-tone flugelhorn (notable for its use in Karlheinz Stockhausen's PIETÀ from DIENSTAG aus LICHT) and the double bell trumpet that Blaauw now plays.[7]
Marco Blaauw worked in close collaboration with German composerKarlheinz Stockhausen for 17 years.[5] Beginning in 1998, Marco Blaauw worked intensely withKarlheinz Stockhausen and premiered solo roles in scenes of the opera cycleLICHT. In August 2008, he presented the premiere of "HARMONIES for trumpet" fromKLANG forBBC Radio 3 in theRoyal Albert Hall. Blaauw has since performed all major works for trumpet by Stockhausen and can be heard on several recordings of the Stockhausen Verlag (see discography).[8]
In 2015, Blaauw started working withLa Monte Young on “the Second Dream of the High Tension Line Stepdown Transformer" for a concert in the Chelsea Dream House, NYC, and went on to perform to critical acclaim inWarsaw,Huddersfield,Paris,Oslo,Amsterdam,Krems,Cologne, andPolling. This project has since grown into the Monochrome Project – an ensemble of 8 trumpet players – which maintains an active schedule of premieres, including works byAnthony Braxton.[3]
Blaauw has also worked in close collaboration with famous German painterGerhard Richter. Blaauw, with Ensemble Musikfabrik, premiered "Richter's Patterns" by composerMarcus Schmickler at theKölner Philharmonie in 2016,[9] and Blaauw has continued a close working relationship with the artist since. In 2019, Blaauw played for the premiere ofRichter's "Moving Picture 946-3" at theKiyomizu-dera Temple inKyoto, Japan. The film was created in collaboration withCorinna Belz (filmmaker) with score for solo trumpet and electronics byRebecca Saunders and has since also been a featured event at Musikfest Berlin 2020.[10]
Recently, Blaauw has been working on the Global Breath project working to record and archive iconographic sounds, as well as connect pioneering trumpet players worldwide. The project will host a conference in March 2021.[3]
Marco Blaauw served on the faculty of the Masters ausLICHT program at theKoninklijk Conservatorium inThe Hague,the Netherlands from 2017 until 2019.[11] This one-time masters program served to instruct students in the performance of the music ofKarlheinz Stockhausen and prepare them to play solo roles in theaus LICHT production of theDutch National Opera and 2019Holland Festival.
Marco Blaauw has been a teacher at theDarmstadt Summer Course since 2014 and head of the Brass Academy since 2016.[12] He also currently leads the trumpet class at the Stockhausen Courses Kurten[13] and has served as a faculty member of the Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar since 2008.[14] In 2018, Blaauw and the Musikfabrik brass soloists created theEnsemble Musikfabrik Brass Academy, and they have since hosted the course at the Musikfabrik studios every summer with the exception of 2020, when the academy took place online due to thecoronavirus pandemic.[15]
In 2003 Marco Blaauw was awarded the Orpheus Prize for his performance ofHanna Kulenty'sTrumpet Concerto during theWarsaw Autumn Festival.[16] In 2008 he received the Karel de Grote-award from the city ofNijmegen.[17] Blaauw's sixth solo CD,Angels, was awarded thePreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2014. As a composer, Blaauw was awarded the 2016 Karl Sczuka Prize for his first radio play,deathangel.[5] Blaauw also gave the laudation speech in honor ofRebecca Saunders for herErnst von Siemens Music Prize award.[18]
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