Beyond grateful to have won the Willem Breuker Prize. The prize is awarded every two years to a musician whose work is characterised by ‘freedom, hearty audacity, and a completely open mind.’

The Willem Breuker Prize 2022 will be awarded during a double concert of the duo Maarten Ornstein-Mike Fentross, and me. The organization was not 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.

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.

The prize gives me the time and space to develop deeper. It’s also moment to reflect and be grateful to everyone who has helped me get to where I am, both teachers and collaborators.

From the jury report : “…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.’

Concert and party on November 4th, 20:30, BIMHUIS, Amsterdam

more info about Willem Breuker