From Thursday 29 October through Sunday 1 November, the most coherent classical route in the live calendar is also its most mobile one. Cellist Abel Selaocoe and Amsterdam Sinfonietta move from Amsterdam to Haarlem and Arnhem across three consecutive evenings, turning a festival opening into a compact tour of how a string orchestra can carry composed repertoire, folk-rooted material and improvisatory energy in the same frame.[1][2][3][4]

The route begins at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ on Thursday at 18:30, where Selaocoe joins Raphaela Gromes and Amsterdam Sinfonietta for Shifting Borders, the opening concert of the 11th Cello Biennale Amsterdam. Its programme makes the editorial idea unusually legible: Marie Jaëll’s Cello Concerto in F sits alongside Ravel’s La valse, Vivaldi, Giovanni Sollima and several Selaocoe pieces, including Lerato, Ka Bohaleng and Ibuyile l’Africa. Gromes’s work in bringing Jaëll’s long-overlooked concerto back into circulation gives the evening a second line of musical recovery.[1]

A programme built to travel

Friday’s 20:00 concert at Philharmonie Haarlem keeps Selaocoe with Amsterdam Sinfonietta, conductor and violinist Hans Christian Aavik, principal cellist Tim Posner and percussionist Sidiki Dembélé. The repertoire shifts toward Debussy’s Cello Sonata and Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte, yet Sollima’s The Family Tree, Vivaldi and Selaocoe’s own music remain in place. That recurrence is the useful thread: this is a programme with an internal vocabulary, revisited in a fresh room instead of a greatest-hits package.[2]

Selaocoe’s own practice explains why the pairing has substance. His work combines cello performance with improvisation, singing and body percussion, and his projects draw connections between Western and non-Western musical traditions. His longstanding creative relationship with Dembélé also gives the Haarlem date a particular pulse: the percussionist is part of Selaocoe’s Chesaba trio as well as this orchestra programme.[4][2]

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Arnhem’s final stop

At Musis on Saturday 31 October at 20:00, the same partnership reaches Arnhem with Debussy, Ravel, Vivaldi, Sollima and Selaocoe compositions including Lerato, Qhawe, Ka Bohaleng and Ibuyile l’Africa. Musis frames the concert around the meeting of French colour, rhythm, improvisation and Selaocoe’s personal roots; that is a concise description of the weekend’s appeal. The cello leads, though the real subject is collaboration: orchestra, soloist, a fellow cellist and percussion constantly reshape the scale of the sound.[3]

Planning the route

Start in Amsterdam on Thursday 29 October at 18:30 for the Cello Biennale opening, continue at Philharmonie Haarlem on Friday 30 October at 20:00, or catch the Arnhem date at Musis on Saturday 31 October at 20:00. The Amsterdam page currently marks Shifting Borders as sold out, so check the official venue pages for returns, access details and any timetable changes before travelling.[1][2][3]

Sources

  1. Opening concert: Shifting Borders — Raphaela Gromes, Abel Selaocoe + Amsterdam Sinfonietta — Muziekgebouw Amsterdam
  2. Amsterdam Sinfonietta & Abel Selaocoe — Franse klassiekers en Afrikaanse traditionals — PHIL Haarlem
  3. Amsterdam Sinfonietta & Abel Selaocoe — Musis & Stadstheater Arnhem
  4. Abel Selaocoe — Genre Defining Cellist — Abel Selaocoe