14 The True Prison

Bad Times Are Good

Declaracao

What Would You Do ?

Crossfire

For Aylan & Mawda

Because Nobody Cares

Di Levone Geyt Shlofn

Thank you for listening!

"The Sweetest Klezmer Orchestra" is the album that was recorded by the band Halva in May 2018. It mainly contains compositions by Nicolaas Cottenie, plus "Sher Nomer 0" and "Latviyska", composed by Ilja Schneiveiss.

The band is:
Nicolaas Cottenie - violin
Alina Bauer - violin
Georg Brinkmann - clarinet
Ilja Scheiveiss - piano, accordion & percussion
Eline Duerinck - cello

The Sweetest Klezmer Orchestra

Tsvey Strunen Terkish

Turns Out It's A Sher

Lautari Hora

Bulgar

Kaketke

Dinner in Sofia

Khosidl für das neue Leben

Romanian Shepherd's Tune

Frelex

Hi!

Thank you for visiting my page!

I am a violin player, and currently work as a researcher in the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp (Belgium) and perform with different projects.

For a long time, my main interest has been klezmer music, and how to combine the rich and fascinating Jewish musical tradition with other things musical that I like, mainly (extended) tonal harmony, contemporary classical music, and improvisation. And then also Balkan music, Greek music and a lot of other styles as well- it is a bit eclectic really.

The single most important thing that happened to me in my musical life is the fact that I had the honor and the opportunity to study with Alan Bern, my favorite musician and teacher and thinker. He developed a method for free improvisation called Present Time Composition that I learned to understand and teach through years of reading and practicing (which you can read more about on my website).

Another thing that is a big factor in who I am musically today is my study of classical tonality. Much more than the complex harmonic theory that I studied in my jazz conservatory education, it is what inspires me today as a composer. This would never have happened without the help of another great teacher, Lieven Strobbe. Listening to the music on this website, you will probably hear what I mean when I say that I got a lot out of studying some Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven compositions (although, just to be clear, I do not by a long shot consider myself a specialist).

My main projects at the moment are: a silent film project called No Words (Zonder Woorden in Dutch), a modern klezmer band called Halva, a traditional klezmer duo with my partner Alina Bauer called Azind, and then there is a project that is meanwhile discontinued but that is still so important to me that I cannot fail to mention it: Maggid.

To contact me, write to contact@nicolaascottenie.eu

Nicolaas Cottenie

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