The Willem Breuker Prize 2022 will be awarded during a double concert of the duo Maarten Ornstein-Mike Fentross, and Diamanda La Berge Dramm. The organization regrets not being able to hand out an award in 2021, because of corona measures in the music sector. Consequently, this year the jury will hand out two awards of equal value. The Willem Breuker Prize exists of a prize of 15.000 euro and a sculpture by Wim T. Schippers.
From the jury report:
‘The duo Maarten Ornstein-Mike Fentross places the traditional in the contemporary, by subtly mixing old and new music cultures from various parts of the world. They continue to surprise by exploring the boundaries between Western European classical music, Baltic folklore, and improvisation.’
‘For Diamanda La Berge Dramm it comes natural to combine her violin playing with all kinds of other ways of expression, translating her physical emotions into music. She’s an authentic presence in the instrumental domain, and a role model when it comes to using the instrument as a means to an end, and not an end in itself.’
The biennial Willem Breuker Prijs is awarded to those who show kinship with Willem Breuker’s groundbreaking and inventive methods. Willem Breuker (1944-2010) supported a new music landscape with everything he did: he was a composer, saxophonist and clarinetist; he traveled the globe for thirty-five years with his own ensemble, Willem Breuker Kollektief; he ran a record company, BV Haast; and for decades he organized the festival Klap op de Vuurpijl for jazz, improvised, and contemporary classical music.