It was supposed to be a Dutch premier on June 6th and 7th in the open-air theater in Overloon: the opera entitled 'Seed of Satan'. In preparing for the performance, the Quadrivium wind orchestra had joined forces with seven professional soloists, a choir and a theater company. The crowd-pleaser was supposed to be performed twice by a cast of about a hundred people. 'Supposed to be' because, as it has done elsewhere, coronavirus threw a spanner in these works.

“The measures meant we couldn't rehearse together,” says Wouter Kuyper, lustrum commissioner at Quadrivium. “That prompted us to start looking for another way to practice together.” That way was online.

No set of kettledrums at home

“Someone made a sound fragment of a metronome, that way we can all keep the same beat. Everyone then used it to record their own part. When you put everything together, you get - something - of the sense that you are listening to an orchestra,” says Kuyper.

More than forty musicians contributed towards the making of the short film. “Not everyone could take part. Percussionists, for example, don't have a timpani , a set of tunable kettledrums, at home. I myself play percussion, but for this I played piano instead.”

Kuyper is noticing that playing together online builds the group's enthusiasm. “It's how we are trying to motivate people to study their parts. It's really cool to do.” Conductor Paul van Gils recorded himself conducting. He gives a great performance in the top of the picture in the fragment below.

This online rehearsal was held before it became clear that this concert won't be going ahead. “But if coronavirus measures stay in place for a long time, we'll be holding these online rehearsals more often,” Kuyper expects.

Eleventh lustrum

Kuyper is very proud of his 55-year-old association. “We are really doing a lot of cool things in our lustrum year.” TU/e Maestro has already been a success, as was sQratch and a dinner concert. “A lot more events are on the agenda for this lustrum year, but it is unclear when these performances can be held, due to the measures related to coronavirus.”

The association will be looking at new, later dates on which to perform the opera. “It is probably going to be June of next year, because half the Netherlands is now looking for alternative dates for cancelled events.”