My Musical Journey with Orchest-Vereeniging Dordrecht
I first joined Orchest-Vereeniging Dordrecht when I was just fifteen years old, playing in the second violin section (at a time when the hierarchy within the orchestra was still very visible). By the age of eighteen I was appointed concertmaster, a position I proudly held for three years.
When I turned twenty-one, however, I decided to follow another musical passion: the French horn. Since then, I have been playing in the horn section, at the back of the orchestra, every Wednesday evening, a routine that has become an inseparable part of my life.
This year marks my 43rd season with the orchestra. Over the decades, I have played under seven of the nine conductors who have led the ensemble since its founding in 1883. That doesn’t mean I am that old, but it does show how deeply rooted this orchestra is in my life and in the city of Dordrecht.
A Historic Orchestra
The Orchest-Vereeniging Dordrecht is one of the oldest amateur symphony orchestras in the Netherlands. It was founded on December 21, 1883, with Willem Kes as its first conductor. Kes would go on to establish the famous Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam just five years later.
The orchestra’s very first concert took place on April 3, 1884, with works by Beethoven, Mozart, Berlioz, and Mendelssohn. Since then, Orchest-Vereeniging has welcomed renowned soloists, premiered works, and played an important role in the cultural life of Dordrecht. Today, about 50 dedicated musicians come together every Wednesday evening to rehearse, and the orchestra presents three concerts each year.
Why I Keep Coming Back
For me, music is much more than a hobby. Playing in an orchestra means listening, responding, and building something greater together. Each rehearsal and each performance is a new challenge, a fresh inspiration, and a reminder of the joy of making music with others.
Through all these years, I have seen repertoire evolve, conductors come and go, new members join, and long-standing friends move on. But one thing remains: the magic of Wednesday evenings when notes on a page transform into sound, energy, and shared experience.
Article about latest concert together with Pianist Lauretta Bloomer
Silence broken in the Trinitatiskapel – and with the strings of a viola and piano, that’s no punishment…
25 August 2025 • 18:20 by Jacques Malschaert
DORDRECHT – Sometimes I wonder what attracts me more: silence, or music that fills the space. This was the question I asked myself the moment I exchanged the silence of my living room for a promising musical evening in the Trinitatiskapel. My bike ride there served as a fitting buffer and a good opportunity to think it over a little longer. The immediate reason for these reflections was the title of the recital by violist and musical all-rounder Karin Dolman and pianist Lauretta Bloomer: Silence Broken. The ride was too short to really explore every facet of that question. I promised myself I’d take more time for it in the coming days… but first, the music.
Karin Dolman and Lauretta Bloomer
Faithful visitors to chamber music concerts in Dordrecht, of course, know Karin Dolman: an enthusiastic, energetic advocate for chamber music and especially the viola repertoire. Together with like-minded musicians she seeks out works that are rarely (or never) recorded. Not just out of curiosity. Her mission is to discover new repertoire, among other things to inspire new generations of musicians and listeners.
I haven’t been back living in Dordrecht, my birthplace, for very long, and I keep discovering new musicians from the region. This time it was Lauretta Bloomer, who matches Karin Dolman’s energy and enthusiasm in every respect. Lauretta has been living in Sliedrecht for about a year, where she teaches advanced piano students. After studies in London and Vienna and performances all over the world, she settled in the Netherlands, where she became a much sought-after pianist. “I love playing chamber music best, and always together.”
Unknown works
In the Trinitatiskapel, Karin Dolman and Lauretta Bloomer broke the silence with music that was both unknown and surprising to me. In many areas of life, the saying “unknown makes unloved” applies – and so it is in music. We often listen to familiar repertoire by the great composers. But just as often, when we encounter new music, we discover there is so much more that can touch and move us.
Friday evening’s program included works by four relatively unknown English composers. One of the fascinating things about my writing is that, especially after a concert, I go in search of the background of what I have heard and seen. Naturally, I go online and usually find a lot of useful information. I like to combine such a deep dive with searches through my own bookshelves, and I spend days listening again to the music performed, making detours into related repertoire. And yes, the General Music Encyclopedia I bought decades ago is still a valuable reference.
Sadly, there is no entry there for William Lloyd Webber. His son Andrew, of course, is well known, from Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita… But father William also had great talent. He wrote his sonatina for viola and piano when he was only 20 years old. A short but warm and melodic piece in the spirit of English Romanticism.
Silence was truly broken with the Sonata by Alan Rawsthorne (1905–1971). My encyclopedia is brief and points to influences from the French neo-classicists… This sonata for viola and piano dates from 1937, a youthful work – and you can hear that. The energy leaps out. For Karin and for Lauretta it was a wonderful opportunity to show every facet of their musicianship: virtuosic, energetic, deeply resonant, and also melancholy. I am especially fond of that melancholy, where music seeks stillness. The viola, like the cello, is the perfect instrument for that. In Rawsthorne’s sonata I found this quality in the third movement, the Adagio.
The third English composer of the evening, Howard Ferguson (1908–1999), didn’t compose much; he was primarily a teacher and musicologist. His Four Short Pieces were originally written for clarinet and piano. Ferguson himself prepared a version for viola and piano. Of the four pieces, it was the third, Pastoral, that stayed with me. Unfortunately, in my online searches I could not find a recording of the viola-and-piano version. But I did find the clarinet version, which was more than worth hearing. I can recommend everyone to do a little exploring – you stumble on so many treasures! The great risk, though, is that you get lost in that enchanted forest and can’t find your way out again. Not so bad, really, because during my wanderings I discovered even more beautiful combinations of viola with piano and clarinet.
Fortunately, I found my way back in time, otherwise I would have missed the fourth composer of the evening, Sir Arnold Bax (1883–1953). His sonata for viola and piano, dating from 1922, was the oldest work on the program. Bax was inspired by Celtic and Irish mythology and reveals himself as a true British late-Romantic. My music encyclopedia says that alongside Vaughan Williams, Bax was the finest English symphonist. I’m not in a position to confirm or deny that – I’m too little versed in the richness of English classical music – but the performance was certainly energetic and melodious.
Silence
My weekend was again filled with wonderful sounds, beginning Friday evening in the Trinitatiskapel, followed by a couple of days of chamber music in my own living room. Once again, I now close all music channels for a while to seek silence – silence that, even in music, is sometimes more important than the notes themselves. One cannot exist without the other.
Heard in the Trinitatiskapel, Friday 22 August:
Silence Broken, recital by Karin Dolman, viola, and Lauretta Bloomer, piano
Music by William Lloyd Webber, Alan Rawsthorne, Howard Ferguson, and Arnold Bax
For a while, I thought I’d lost this CD. It was our very first one with the DoelenKwartet, recorded in October 2000 at the initiative of the Vereniging Vrienden van het Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. A precious collaboration and an unforgettable start.
I still remember I was ill the week before the sessions, we almost had to cancel. But thankfully we didn’t. Listening back now, I’m proud of what we captured. The energy, the focus, the love for the music…. it’s all there.
And a lovely detail: both Frank de Groot, our first violinist, and I played on instruments made by my husband, Jan van der Elst.
The CD is no longer available in shops. Sharing it here on my website feels like the best way to preserve and celebrate that special moment in time.
Sometimes tidying up reveals unexpected treasures. While recently sorting through my old cassette tapes, I came across a recording from 1997: a recital at the Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam together with pianist Caecilia Boschman — my long-time partner in crime.
The programme included, among other works, César Franck’s Sonata in our own arrangement for viola and piano. At that time, such arrangements were still quite rare, so we invested a great deal of time and care in translating the music naturally to the viola. Today, many editions exist, each with its own perspective, but it remains special to listen again to our early version.
Are you curious about our arrangement? Feel free to send me an email at: karin@vioolbouwer.nl.
Sonate of César Franck in an arrangement for viola and piano Waalse kerk – Amsterdam 1997 Duo Dolman/Boschman
Throughout music history, composers have searched for ways to move beyond strict forms and explore imagination without boundaries. Two musical genres stand out as powerful expressions of this artistic freedom: the Fantasia and the Rhapsody. Both invite spontaneity, individuality, and emotional depth, yet each approaches freedom from a different perspective.
The fantasia has its roots in the improvisatory traditions of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, where composers such as Sweelinck and Froberger created free-flowing works that contrasted with more formal structures like the fugue. Over time, the form evolved while preserving its essential spirit of exploration. From Mozart’s expressive fantasies to the visionary works of Schubert and Schumann, the fantasia became a musical space where imagination could lead the way.
The rhapsody, by contrast, often draws its energy from storytelling and folk-inspired expression. It embraces contrast, colour, and passion; music that feels spontaneous and alive, unfolding as if in the moment. While the fantasia explores inner imagination, the rhapsody adds narrative intensity and dramatic freedom.
For the viola, both forms provide an ideal landscape. With its warm, vocal character, the instrument moves naturally between introspection and drama, allowing music to unfold almost like speech, personal, expressive, and deeply human.
For more than 35 years, we have shared a close musical partnership, rooted in our studies together in Rotterdam. Our collaboration has always been guided by curiosity and a spirit of discovery, seeking out overlooked repertoire alongside new perspectives on familiar works. This shared passion has brought us to many stages and resulted in recordings under the name Voila Viola! With the release of our third CD, we founded our own label, Dutch Disc, dedicated to unique and rediscovered repertoire.
In The Art of Freedom, we invite audiences on a journey through Fantasias and Rhapsodies, music where form becomes fluid, imagination takes the lead, and the voice of the viola moves freely between dream and fire.
• Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), British composer who wrote a short Fantasy on the famous theme of Greensleeves.
• York Bowen (1884–1961), a British composer and pianist, wrote his Fantasy for Viola and Piano (1918), a work full of sweeping melodies and rich harmonies, highlighting the viola’s lyrical qualities.
• Huw Watkins (b. 1976) continued this tradition with his modern Fantasy for Viola and Piano, which explores contemporary harmonic language while maintaining the spirit of the form.
• William Henry Reed (1876–1942), best known as a collaborator of Edward Elgar, composed deeply lyrical works that reflect a distinctive English musical voice. His Rhapsody unfolds freely, combining poetic narrative with expressive warmth rather than strict formal structure. With its introspective character and vocal quality, it suits the viola particularly well. Reed’s music beautifully bridges the worlds of fantasia and rhapsody, embodying musical freedom and storytelling.
• Ernst Naumann (1832–1910), a lesser-known German composer, contributed his own Fantasiestücke for viola and piano, capturing the elegance and depth of late Romanticism.
The Enduring Appeal of Fantasias & Rhapsodies
Fantasias and Rhapsodies continue to captivate composers, performers, and audiences alike through their spirit of artistic freedom and expressive depth. Free from rigid structures, these forms allow music to breathe, to unfold spontaneously, and to reveal its most personal voice. For violists, they offer a unique space where the instrument can sing, speak, and explore a wide emotional spectrum, from intimate reflection to passionate storytelling. Whether rooted in Romantic tradition or shaped by modern imagination, Fantasias and Rhapsodies invite us to experience music as a living, evolving art form: spontaneous, imaginative, and endlessly free.
Being part of events like the Tertis and Aronowitz competitions is such a special experience. It’s more than just hearing beautiful music—it’s about seeing how much work and passion young musicians put into their craft. Watching them grow, perform, and share their love for music is inspiring and fills me with hope for the future.
As a teacher, it reminds me how important it is to guide and support students on their journey. It’s not just about helping them play their instrument but also about encouraging them to find their own voice and build confidence. Each lesson, talk, or rehearsal is a chance to make a difference, and I feel so lucky to be part of that process.
This week has also brought me back to my own love for the viola and its wonderful music. Hearing these performances and being surrounded by such passion has given me so much energy and new ideas. I feel ready to start writing again and to explore more of what this amazing instrument has to offer.
The viola has always been more than just an instrument to me—it’s a way to express so many emotions and stories. Weeks like this remind me why I love it so much and why I want to keep sharing that love with others.
Review of William Lloyd Webber’s Sonatina for Viola and Piano
Today, Lauretta Bloomer and I had the pleasure of playing one of the shortest viola sonatas I know: William Lloyd Webber’s Sonatina for Viola and Piano.
This sonatina is a must for all viola students. It’s a joy to practice for both violists and pianists and would be an excellent choice for competitions. The interplay between the two instruments is delightful, making the collaborative process especially rewarding.
William Lloyd Webber, father of two of the most renowned composers in musical history, Andrew and Julian Lloyd Webber, was often asked why the sonata is so short. His answer was simple yet profound: “You should never say more than there is to say.” This philosophy is evident throughout the piece, as every note feels deliberate and meaningful.
The first movement is a beautiful and concise journey, almost like a single extended phrase. It begins with the gentle rise of a sun, capturing the serenity and warmth of a perfect day. By the end of the movement, one feels as though the day has come to a peaceful close, eyes shut, and a smile on the face. My personal favorite moment is in measure 22, with the piano’s entrance on the upbeat, seamlessly joining the viola’s line. The conclusion of this movement is particularly striking—its climax arrives just eight bars before the end, only to fade out gracefully in the final moments. It’s a masterful demonstration of how to create impact within a compact form.
The second movement, played with a mute on the viola, offers a contrasting character. It’s not somber but warmly introspective, enriched by the piano’s lush harmonies—Lauretta’s favorite feature of the piece. The dotted triplet figures in the viola, ascending delicately, evoke a fluttering heart, adding a sense of gentle excitement. This movement is predominantly upward-moving in its lines, symbolizing an uplifting and hopeful emotion. Only in the final solo line of the viola do we feel the transition, leading seamlessly into the last movement.
The third movement immediately reminded both Lauretta and me of Prokofiev, especially the character of Julia from his Romeo and Julietsuite. This innocent and playful feeling, like that of a young girl, defines the mood of the entire movement. The challenge lies in capturing this lightness at a brisk tempo. For me, the pizzicato passage presents a particular bottleneck—I might need to slightly adjust the tempo for those few bars to maintain clarity.
While Lauretta and I are still working on mastering the piece, we thoroughly enjoyed playing it today. This sonata is a charming work that perfectly balances simplicity with expressive depth, leaving both performers and audiences captivated.
Review of Lennox Berkeley’s Viola Sonata in D minor, Op. 22
Lennox Berkeley’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, composed in 1945-46, is a remarkable addition to the viola repertoire. Today, I had the pleasure of playing this sonata with pianist Lauretta Bloomer in her charming home in Sliedrecht. The sonata is a perfect piece for advanced conservatory students, offering challenges in both technical execution and emotional expression.
The first movement, marked Allegro ma non troppo, is striking in its balance of vigor and lyrical depth. The marking non troppo seems to influence the character rather than tempo, especially when thinking of the piece in one. A sudden Tranquillo passage comes as a delightful surprise, highlighting Berkeley’s sensitivity to character shifts. The character indications throughout this movement make it especially rewarding for performers who enjoy exploring tonal colors and moods. Notably, this movement is significantly longer than the other two, giving it a weighty presence.
The second movement, Adagio, is hauntingly beautiful, with long, expansive phrases that demand careful attention to phrasing and color. The sharp rhythms of the 32nd notes at the end of the long notes are crucial to capturing the movement’s solemn, almost funereal atmosphere. There’s a sense of deep introspection here—a challenge lies in broadening the phrases to maintain their meditative quality without losing the tension beneath.
The third movement, Allegro, shifts to a lively and buoyant character. Its folk-inspired dance feeling, driven by the interplay between 6/8 and 4/8 time signatures, makes it particularly enjoyable to perform. This finale has an infectious energy that brings the sonata to a satisfying conclusion. The rhythmic intricacies and vibrant spirit make it a true celebration of the viola’s versatility.
The sonata has a total duration of approximately 17 minutes, making it a perfect piece for the first half of a recital. Berkeley’s writing is idiomatic for both instruments, with the piano and viola engaging in an elegant partnership throughout. It’s a work that demands not only technical skill but also a nuanced understanding of tone and character, rewarding performers who bring a wide palette of emotions to the table.
In summary, Berkeley’s Viola Sonata is a compelling and emotionally rich work. Whether as a recital centerpiece or part of a program, it offers both performers and audiences a meaningful and colorful musical journey.
I’m thrilled to share that my compositions, Three Golden Hairs for solo viola and Four Seasons for clarinet and viola, have just arrived from the publisher! These pieces mark an exciting new step in my journey as a composer, and it’s incredibly fulfilling to see them beautifully printed, thanks to Viola Viva’s dedication to quality.
These works are now available for purchase both as printed scores and in digital format. Visit Viola Viva to explore these pieces and bring them to your music stand.
Thank you for supporting my journey into composition—I’m excited to see where this path will lead and to continue creating for the viola community and beyond!
This week, Codarts Rotterdam is hosting its annual project week, designed to immerse students in new and innovative areas of music. One of the highlights of this year’s program is the visit of renowned violist and composer Garth Knox. A prominent figure in contemporary music, Knox is known for his boundary-pushing work as both a performer and a composer. Over the next two days, Knox will be giving a series of lectures, workshops, and masterclasses, sharing his vast experience with the students.
Garth Knox’s background as a former member of the Arditti Quartet and Ensemble InterContemporain places him at the forefront of avant-garde music, and his expertise in contemporary repertoire will be a valuable resource for students looking to explore new sounds and techniques. His work often integrates traditional string techniques with experimental approaches, making him an exciting and inspiring guest for Codarts’ aspiring musicians.
Additionally, Ensemble Pinarello will be visiting during this special week, offering a unique workshop on playing from memory in larger ensembles. This approach to ensemble playing without the reliance on sheet music is designed to deepen the students’ connection to the music, enhancing both their listening skills and their expressive capabilities.
Together, Knox and Ensemble Pinarello will provide a stimulating experience, encouraging students to push their boundaries and engage with new dimensions of music-making.
