Composition Workshop: Final Concert

Anyone can learn to compose. That is the belief behind Stichting In de Knop, whose composition workshops for young people have already sparked more than a few musical journeys: several former participants have gone on to study composition professionally.

This autumn, Classical NOW! and Dag in de Branding are bringing the format to The Hague. Under the guidance of composer Eva Beunk, ten young composers will create their very first pieces and present them at the Paleiskerk.

Across five sessions at the Koorenhuis, the participants will develop their musical ideas step by step. What makes the workshop exceptional is that their sketches do not remain on paper for long. Three professional musicians are on hand during the workshop period, trying out the young composers’ ideas and bringing them to life. Something imagined in one session can be heard the very next week. That immediate feedback helps the participants discover what works, what surprises them, and what they might want to change.

No experience with traditional notation is required. Those who do not read or write notes can work with graphic scores instead: music drawn in lines, shapes and colours.

Stichting In de Knop was founded by composers Anne-Maartje Lemereis, Composer Laureate of the Netherlands 2024–2025, and Remy Alexander. Again and again, their workshops reveal how freely young people compose when given the chance: curious, inventive and unafraid of rules they have not yet learned to obey.