Hexnut

about

Hexnut is an ensemble of five soloists coming out of the Karnatic Lab, the Amsterdam modern music club responsible for many of the new developments in Amsterdam’s contemporary music circles of today. The blueprint for Hexnut was the work “Tools”, a high-energy, virtuosic set of nine pieces composed by Ned McGowan in 2003. This collection of miniatures, winner of the Henriëtte Bosmans Prize in the Netherlands, puts the flute, trumpet, piano and modified recorder into a living interaction, mixing moments of great precision with chaos and eccentric solos. The surprising textures possible with these instruments, combined with the intense communication and timing between the players, creates a music that is suspenseful, fresh, and virtuosic. Rounding out Hexnut is the vocalist Stephie Buttrich, known for her fiery use of extended vocal techniques. The music of Hexnut is essentially a new music, mixing styles, sounds and playing techniques from contemporary classical, jazz, metal, improvisation, Indian, Balkan and cartoon music. While mostly composed, the pieces also exploit plenty of improvisation and theater. Since their debut in 2004, Hexnut has played to full halls at the Grachten Festival, Klap op de Vuurpijl Festival and at the Bimhuis. Hexnut is: Susanna Borsch – recorders Stephie Buttrich – voice Gijs Levelt – trumpet Ned McGowan – flute and contrabass flute Ere Lievonen– piano User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional term