Atlas Orchestra

Joël Bons: Atlas Orchestra (World Premiere)
Atlas Orchestra conducted by Ed Spanjaard, featuring HIIIT
Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, 21 June 2025

Composer Joël Bons has written a new work for his expanded Atlas Ensemble, now transformed into a full orchestra, commissioned by the Oranjewoud Festival, Holland Festival, and NTR ZaterdagMatinee: Atlas Orchestra. The Atlas Orchestra is a new collective of over forty top musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds, evolving from the Atlas Ensemble, which Bons founded in 2002. Related string, plucked, wind, and percussion instruments from China, Japan, Korea, India, Iran, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Syria, Turkey, and Europe come together to create a unique and inspiring sonic palette.

Never before have these “descendants” been united in a single orchestra. Now, they come together in all their musical diversity in an entirely new composition. On 21 June 2025, the orchestra performed as part of the NTR ZaterdagMatinee alongside HIIIT (formerly Slagwerk Den Haag), under the direction of Ed Spanjaard.

Winds

Hyelim Kim, daegum
Maria Cristina González, flute/piccolo
Gevorg Dabaghian, duduk/zurna
Raphaela Danksagmüller, duduk/recorder
Guo Yahzi, guanzi/suona
gamin, piri/taepyeonso
Shavkat Matyakubov, kushnai/surnai
Ainhoa Pérez Etxepare, oboe/corno inglese
Edgards Karpenskis-Allazs, bassoon
Jelmer de Moed, clarinet
Jaime Peña Martínez, basset horn/bass clarinet
Zhang Meng, sheng
Zifan Dai, sheng
Naomi Sato, sho
Michael Boere, uilleann pipes
Sebastiaan Kemner, trombone

Plucked & hammered strings

Fu Xixu, pipa
Elcin Nagijev, tar
Nizar Rohana, ud
Shavkat Matyakubov, dutar
Li Liangzi, zheng
Bassem Alkhoury, qanun
Dani Luca, cimbalom
Ernestine Stoop, harp

Bowed strings

Yan Jiemin, erhu 1
Elshan Mansurov, kamancha 1
Marijke van Kooten, violin 1
Zhao Yuanchun, erhu 2
Huseyn Nagijev, kamancha 2
Cordelia Paw, violin 2
Binnaz Çelik, kemençe
Yuji Nakagawa, sarangi
Peng Chang, zhonghu
Lotus de Vries, viola
Kalle de Bie, cello 1
Ketevan Roinishvili, cello 2
Dario Calderone, double bass 1
Pietro Barcellona, double bass 2

Percussion

Niels Meliefste, vibraphone/percussion
Mariana Soroka, dulcimer/percussion
Gonçalo Martins, marimba/percussion

Artistic team

Joël Bons, composer
Ed Spanjaard ,conductor
Chi-Chun, assistent conductor

Producers

Yoram Ish-Hurwitz, artistic director Oranjewoud Festival
Francesca Clements, producer Atlas
Natálie Kulina, assistant producer Atlas
Dominique Slegers, producer NTR ZaterdagMatinee
PME-tècnia, sound technique
Koen de Kruijf, lighting

Atlas Orchestra was made possible with support of Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, Fonds Podiumkunsten, Het Cultuurfonds and Brook Foundation.