Podcast 'De componistenkamer'
- Mathilde Wantenaar
- Nov 13, 2021
- 2 min read
The Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, the Casa Puccini in Lucca: spaces where the heart beats faster because the composer wrote his works there. Some in dire poverty, others in reasonable opulence but all struggling, violently in love or unjustly abandoned, smoking, drinking, with ambition and sometimes suffering from syphilis. That was then! Melchior Huurdeman (VPRO Vrije Geluiden) explores in the NPO Radio 4 podcast series De componistenkamer how the composer anno nowadays does his work.
What is the composer's room like these days? And what goes on there? How inspiring should and should not the room be? Should the pencil always be in the same place? And why does one composer get so much inspiration from a bin of stones and another glorifies the view? The latter muses a bit and thus sets the creative process in motion.
Episode 11 of De componistenkamer
Mathilde Wantenaar looks out over Amsterdam, the city where she was born 28 years ago. This is also where she studied at the conservatory, with composers Willem Jeths and Wim Henderickx. The road to her latest orchestral work ‘Meander’ for the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra was not an easy one. She talks candidly about the struggles during Corona that many musicians and composers will recognise. Together with her boyfriend, she lives in 1 room. In the same attic flat, she also composes. There is a piano, a cello, a guitar, a computer and a knitting machine.
Mathilde Wantenaar's music has been described as lyrical, enchanting and eclectic yet authentic. The combination of her craftsmanship and openness to a wide range of genres make Wantenaar a versatile composer.
She has since written pieces for the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Groot Omroepkoor, the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. A month ago, her composition ‘Meander’ premiered at the Matinee. It was a commissioned work by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
