News – Arjan Linker

I’m sharing my musical activities on a regular basis on Facebook and Instagram. Follow me on there or click the posts below to learn about my recent activities and upcoming concerts!

arjanlinker

During King's Day in Amsterdam, I unexpectedly got

During King's Day in Amsterdam, I unexpectedly got caught into the Queen of Raags: Raag Bhairavi. Never studied this raag but after hearing a couple great recordings by sitar and sarod players I got really inspired to dive into this emotional Mishra Bhairavi. Hope you enjoy some of my explorations!

#raagbhairavi #indianclassicalmusic #trombone #improvisation #mishrabhairavi #sitar #sarod #alaap

Composing! Experimenting and discovering new mater

Composing! Experimenting and discovering new material for a very exiting commission, more news on that later 🙂

It's safe to say India has had some influence on my musical thoughts, but I'm welcoming them into my musical world and I'm enjoying that a lot! Raags allowed me to get a completely fresh look on some musical systems I though I new throughout, but now I'm finding so many new colors I can't believe it.

Hope you enjoy and don't mind my bad piano playing and annoying head movement ;P

#indianclassical #indianclassicalmusic #contemporaryclassical #contemporaryclassicalmusic #contemporaryclassicalcomposer #improv #improvisation #piano #raagyaman #raagkafi #yaman #kafi #khamaj #composer

Really proud of this chess game I played over the

Really proud of this chess game I played over the board in a classical competition match last weekend. 95% accuracy, no mistakes and even a briljant move (10. Lxh7!!). Normally I don't post about my activities outside music here but this time I couldn't help myself ;)

Two years ago @lourenslente, @seathesound and I ho

Two years ago @lourenslente, @seathesound and I hosted two magical improvised evenings in the always special @ruigoord. Enjoy some snippets of the performance, from the calm introduction to the final climax!

Last days in Mumbai! Unexpectedly celebrating holi

Last days in Mumbai! Unexpectedly celebrating holi, and getting lots of inspiration in concerts of great masters like Pt. Rakesh Chaurasia, Pt. Shahid Parvez, Pt. Rahul Sharma and many more.

Slowly getting settled in Mumbai, studying a lot,

Slowly getting settled in Mumbai, studying a lot, seeing concerts by some of the great masters! Also, I fell sick which almost seems unavoidable 🙂

1) With my teacher and great singer Tulika Ghosh

2) Weaving voices, an unforgetable performance by great musicians like Pt. Uday Bhawalkar

3) Niladri Kumar and Ustad Zakir Hussain, just after Niladri's father Pt. Kartick Kumar performed

4) While sick, I was glad to have my folding midi keyboard with me so I could make some edits in my Matthäus Passion arrangement for @deblazers

My first days in Mumbai! Four days meeting great p

My first days in Mumbai! Four days meeting great people, getting used to a new culture and of course lots of music. This has already been such an experience, I must say I'm really touched by the way people treat eachother, value eachother, respect eachother so deeply and are so hospitable.

1) one of the best examples of this hospitality was when @sarahmeerancave invited me to her birthday party on my first day, while we never met before. At the party, I met lots of people who I could meet up with in the days to follow. Yesterday I had a great time playing and having lunch with @isheeta.c and @sarodpratik. Great people and incredible musicians, shame we forgot to take a picture 😉

2) in the meantime I'm studying Indian classical music intensively with great singer and teacher Tulika Ghosh. To make as much progress as I can in this month, we have lessons twice a week. She gives me lots of material to practise for the days in between, like these paltas (scale exercises) in the photo.

3) Tulika invited me to a group session with Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, one of Indias finest singers. While I couldn't understand most of the discussion in Hindi, the musical examples he gave showed lots of colors I never saw before. Probably this was the most special experience so far, being around all these excellent musicians in the apartment of 95 year old sitar master Pandit Arvind Parikh.

4) my first Thali!

5 and 6) views from the rickshaw

7) walking on Juhu beach

8) on the way to Juhu, there was kilometers of this: the little things you see on the pavement are actually fish left to dry. You can't imagine the smell...

9) on the way to Town, the south of Mumbai

Messing around with chopped samples of some of my

Messing around with chopped samples of some of my favourite music, serving as an inspiration for two projects with great drummer Wouter Kühne. Can you identify the orchestral piece before it plays out at the end?

Meanwhile, I'm packing for a month in Mumbai, where I'll be studying Indian music and probably more inspirational things will happen. Let's see, I'l post frequent updates here!

How would a marimba sound if it was a wind instrum

How would a marimba sound if it was a wind instrument? In my piece Zoekspiegel you can admire the beautiful sound of this instrument without it disappearing in a second.

Come hear the piece live on the 26th of januari in the @muziekgebouw as part of @toonzetters.tour alongside 19 other pieces by young composers!

Marimba: Agostinho Sequeira / Arjan Jongsma @agostinhosequeira @arjanjongsma
Film (schermen): Bowie Verschuuren
Regie-advies: Jos van Kan
Artistieke leiding: Primo Ish-Hurwitz @primoishhurwitz
Video: Grycko Visuals
Camera's: Michal Grycko, Inigo Garayo, Juan Dominguez
Audio: Antal van Nie / TRPTK
Recorded live on 22 MAY 2022 at @splendoramsterdam
#marimba #percussion #reverb #newmusic #toonzetters

Stumbled across this recording of my arrangement o

Stumbled across this recording of my arrangement of Paradigm Shift by progrock group Liquid Tension Experiment while selecting recordings for my website. Almost two years ago, and this was one of the first times I got to arrange for and play with @deblazers!

Drum solo by @innstabram!

Exploring the boundaries of the trombone(quartet)!

Exploring the boundaries of the trombone(quartet)! One of the advantages of writing for your own instrument is being able to try out things to see what is possible. How about these chords using high E's, F's and even a G?

New piece for @nympheastrombonequartet premiering this summer!

#trombone #contemporarymusic #music #highregister #trombonequartet #tromboneensemble

Improvising over a polyrhythmical sketch by @benja

Improvising over a polyrhythmical sketch by @benjamin.deboer in Tijdcapsules! The whole performance is taking place again this Thursday at @kunstaandedijkkortenhoef, unfortunately Benjamin can't join us but I'm so glad that the great @oene_van_geel will join us instead!

concept/trombone: @arjanlinker
contrabas: @benjamin.deboer
gitaar: @kingtritone96
piano/synth: @mattiasspee
live electronics: Dimitri Geelhoed
visuals: @seathesound

film: @lommer.label
regie/camera: @flipkwakkel
regie/montage: @dexkerr
mix: @concertzender

mede mogelijk gemaakt door: @grachtenfestival @fondspodiumkunsten
locatie: @rodehoed

The 17th of August we improvised a timecapsule for

The 17th of August we improvised a timecapsule for a live audience at Grachtenfestival, and I asked @lommer.label to record it so we could open again it two years after: with a shot of a single camera they captured the performance in a way that it feels like you're actually walking through the past!

Here is a small snippet, if you were at the concert you'll get the whole recording at the 17th of August 2024. If you weren't there, there is one more chance: 17th of November at @kunstaandedijkkortenhoef

Tickets: https://www.kunstaandedijk.nl/?p=5267

concept/trombone: @arjanlinker
contrabas: @benjamin.deboer
gitaar: @kingtritone96
piano/synth: @mattiasspee
live electronics: Dimitri Geelhoed
visuals: @seathesound

film: @lommer.label
regie/camera: @flipkwakkel
regie/montage: @dexkerr
mix: @concertzender

mede mogelijk gemaakt door: @grachtenfestival @fondspodiumkunsten
locatie: @rodehoed

#improv #improvisation #trombone #guitar #synth #doublebass #ambientmusic #liveelectronics #vj #visuals #immersive #newmusic #contemporaryclassicalmusic #electricguitar

Very happy to announce that I have been awarded th

Very happy to announce that I have been awarded the Jong Talent Prijs 2023 of @kunstaandedijkkortenhoef ! The 17th of November we'll celebrate and together with great musicians I will play my performance Tijdcapsules again!

Listen to a short part of the time capsule of the 17th of August, and join us for a newly improvised one at the 17th of November in Kortenhoef!

concept/trombone: @arjanlinker
contrabas: @benjamin.deboer
gitaar: @kingtritone96
piano/synth: @mattiasspee
live electronics: Dimitri Geelhoed
visuals: @seathesound

film: @lommer.label
regie/camera: @flipkwakkel
regie/montage: @dexkerr
mix: @concertzender

mede mogelijk gemaakt door: @grachtenfestival @fondspodiumkunsten
locatie: @rodehoed

Indian classical music has always greatly inspired

Indian classical music has always greatly inspired me, and from Januari I decided to actively start studying playing Raag in Khayal style on trombone! To get to know more about this fascinating music, I will be living in Bombay for a month in March to listen, meet and take lessons with great Indian musicians.

I'm looking forward to the experiences and inspirations on the way, and I'll be sure to share them with you. Here is an excerpt of my Alaap in Raag Bhairav which I worked on last year!

Opening for the @prinsengrachtconcert tomorrow wit

Opening for the @prinsengrachtconcert tomorrow with @nympheastrombonequartet. 20:00, at the Prinsengracht or live on Radio 4!

@avrotrosklassiek

Also tomorrow: @somerkamerorkest @festivalveenhuizen with my piece Crash! They rock, check them out if you have the chance!

Honored to be playing with great musicians/compose

Honored to be playing with great musicians/composers at the @grachtenfestival tonight, ticketlink in bio!

Pianist, improvisor and composer @mattiasspee is rapidly becoming one of the most adventurous pianists in the scene. With the rich background he has in classical and contemporary music, while always being influenced by jazz music Mattias has a great vocabulary to express himself and is always searching for more colors and grooves. If you want to hear more of his music, tomorrow he will be playing a solo recital at the @grachtenfestival, check it out!

Honored to be playing with great musicians/compose

Honored to be playing with great musicians/composers at the @grachtenfestival tonight, ticketlink in bio!

I met @benjamin.deboer at @deblazers and we already played some of his compositions and arrangements there. Benjamins music is often very personal and in his journey as a composer he also went deep into his own instrument. That makes him really interesting as an improvisor to play with, as he is greatly in touch with the various colors of his instrument. Do check out his project @dawn.ofchange to hear more!

Honored to be playing with great musicians/compose

Honored to be playing with great musicians/composers at the @grachtenfestival tonight, ticketlink in bio!

Two years ago, I knew about Gijs Idema, @kingtritone96 as a great jazz guitar player. But when I saw his social media profiles I saw that he was also composing music, for his own groups but also for for example string quartets! Since then we have collaborated with his music, but today we play our first big project together. Much looking forward, since Gijs is one of the most interesting and adventurous guitarists that I know of!

Over a year ago I wrote a short, fast and energeti

Over a year ago I wrote a short, fast and energetic piece for drumset and orchestra called Crash! The piece incorporates grooves from hiphop and fusion, joined together with colorful impressionist orchestration.

I'm really glad that the @somerkamerorkest and conductor Rolf Verbeek decided to give the piece it's reprise with soloist @daniel_drums_dalen at @festivalveenhuizen. You can hear the piece in a complete Dutch music programme at the 20th of August at 13:00!