Reactions of participants

Below you will find some reactions of participants of ICRO 2004:

Praetorious sounded fantastic. And congratulations to all of you on putting on such a great congress. Everything went so smoothly, at least from a participant's point of view. The classes were very interesting and I really enjoyed the experience of taking classes from the various Dutch teachers offered. And what a beautiful place.

I've had a wonderful weekend, heard a lot, saw a lot, learned a lot thanks to your wonderful efforts. Thank you so much!!!

From October 15th to 17th, the "1st International Congress on the Recorder Orchestra" took place in the conference center 'Woudschoten' in Zeist near Utrecht/NL. Situated in the woods around Zeist, the conference center with its different seminar rooms, halls, a restaurant and a bar offered a neat and pleasant ambience for numerous workshops about most different topics, concerts and an exhibition of recorders and music. The diversity of 20 workshops made it dificult for the participants from the UK, Germany, the US, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands to choose the right offer. Basic knowledge about the sound of the recorder, improvisation, graphical notation and live electronics was as well imparted as thoughts about the repertoire for recorder orchestras from early across romantic up to swing and contemporary music. Additionally, some more remote topics like Japanese music and the Feldenkrais method were covered. Ken Andresen, Stan Davis, Paul Leenhouts and Colin Touchin were among the lecturers.
On Saturday and Sunday, the wide workshop programm was complemented by short presentations of the 'National Youth Recorder Orchestra', the 'Dortmund Recorder Consort' and the recorder orchestra 'Coro Monte Zavelli'. The evenings were reserved to the professional players. On Friday, Paul Leenhout's 'Royal Wind Music' enthused the audience with a great sounding selection of English renaissance music, played completely from memory! With equal perfection, but notedly different in terms of instrumentation and repertoire, the performance of the 'Quartet New Generation' on Saturday included mostly modern music, e.g. by Serocki and Hirose and a ravishing 'Tall P.' by Pete Rose. The congress ended on Sunday with a 'March & Swing' show by the 'Dutch Recorder Orchestra Praetorius'. Sporting clothes in the 1920's style, they presented the 'Porgy and Bess' story as an enjoyable mixture of recital, dance and music.
Such a tight and extensive congress programme was quite challenging for all participants. Not until 10 p.m. the bar offered a chance for some relaxed personal contacts and discussions. Often appreciation for the smooth organisation and the friendly service was as well expressed as the wish for a future meeting which will probably take place in Leiden/NL in 2006. At any rate, the objective of presenting an international forum for contact and cooperation has already been achieved.