Marco Blaauw is a Dutch trumpet soloist known for his work in the field of new music and with Cologne-based contemporary music group Ensemble Musikfabrik. He plays a double bell trumpet, an invention that has allowed for numerous new compositions for trumpet, including those by Ernst von Siemens Music Prize winner, Rebecca Saunders. Blaauw is a consistent faculty member at the Darmstadt Summer Course, the Stockhausen Courses Kürten, the Lucerne Festival, and the Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar.
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 composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Marco was also a founding member of contemporary music group Ensemble Musikfabrik in Cologne, Germany, and appears on several recordings with the ensemble.[2]
Marco Blaauw plays a double bell trumpet. The first model was made by Dieter Gaertner in Düren, Germany, with whom Blaauw had previously worked on various C trumpets. This instrument inspired composer Péter 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 in Margraten, 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]
Collaborations and projects
Marco Blaauw worked in close collaboration with German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen for 17 years.[5] Beginning in 1998, Marco Blaauw worked intensely with Karlheinz Stockhausen and premiered solo roles in scenes of the opera cycle LICHT. In August 2008, he presented the premiere of "HARMONIES for trumpet" from KLANG for BBC Radio 3 in the Royal 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]
Marco Blaauw performing "Moving Picture" in Kyoto
In 2015, Blaauw started working with La 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 in Warsaw, Huddersfield, Paris, Oslo, Amsterdam, Krems, Cologne, and Polling. This project has since grown into the Monochrome Project – an ensemble of 8 trumpet players – which maintains an active schedule of premieres, including works by Anthony Braxton.[3]
Blaauw has also worked in close collaboration with famous German painter Gerhard Richter. Blaauw, with Ensemble Musikfabrik, premiered "Richter's Patterns" by composer Marcus Schmickler at the Kölner Philharmonie in 2016,[9] and Blaauw has continued a close working relationship with the artist since. In 2019, Blaauw played for the premiere of Richter's "Moving Picture 946-3" at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto, Japan. The film was created in collaboration with Corinna Belz (filmmaker) with score for solo trumpet and electronics by Rebecca 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 has been a teacher at the Darmstadt 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 the Ensemble 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 the coronavirus pandemic.[15]
1997Conquest of Melody, by Marcus Weiss (Hat Hut); Performing Stefan Wolpe'sQuartet for trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano and percussion
1999Madrigale, by Ives Ensemble (Hat Hut); Performing Aldo Clementi'sStudi for violin, trumpet and piano
2000Counterpoise, by Marcus Weiss, Trio Accanto, XASAX (Hat Hut); Performing Wolpe'sQuartet & John Carisi's “Counterpoise No 1” for trumpet, baritone sax, percussion and piano
2000James Tenney Forms 1-4, by musikFabrik (Hat Hut); Performing Stefan Wolpe'sPiece for Trumpet and 7 Instruments
2002Dutch New Music, by Concertzender Live 02 (Muziekgroep Nederland); Performing Christina Viola Oorebeek's Fulgura Frango for trumpet/piccolo/flugel and ensemble
2001Cornelius Cardew, Chamber Music 1955–1964, by Apartment House (Matchless Recordings); Performing Cornelius Cardew'sThree Rhythmic Pieces for Trumpet and Piano
2001Arcs & Circles – Portrait Concert of Hanna Kulenty, by Hanna Kulenty (Frau Musica); Performing A Sixth Circle for trumpet and piano
2003Warsaw Autumn 2003, no. 1, by Sinfonia Varsovia under Renato Rivolta; Performing Hanna Kulenty'sTrumpet Concerto
2003ON Turntable Jazz, by Produciehuis Oost Nederland
2003Michaels Ruf, Quitt, and Trumpetent, by Karlheinz Stockhausen (Stockhausen Verlag)
200750th Warsaw Autumn, CD no8, by Various Artists; Performing Yannis Kyriakides' “Dog Song” (Cerberus serenades Orpheus)
2008Witten 2008 Tage für neue Kammermusik; Performing Rebecca Saunders'Company for 5 soloists
2008Musik in Deutschland 1955-2000, by Musikfabrik (Deutsche Musikrat); Performing Rebecca Saunders'Behind the Velvet Curtain & Richard Ayres'No 31 noncerto for trumpet and ensemble
2008Richard Ayres Portrait CD, by Musikfabrik (BMC); Performing Richard Ayres'No 31 and No. 5 Untitled
2008Stirrings Still, by Musikfabrik (Wergo); Performing Rebecca Saunders'Blaauw for double bell trumpet
2009Speech Songs, by Musikfabrik (Wergo)
2009Antichamber, by Yannis Kyriakides; Performing “Dog Song” (Cerberus serenades Orpheus)
2014György Ligeti – Cello Concerto, Mysteries of the Macabre, Piano Concerto; performing "Mysteries of the Macabre", with PluralEnsemble and Fabian Panisello (NEOS)
