Rock band Bon Jovi is not part of the ‘normal’ repertoire of wind orchestra Auletes, says Jongerius. “Last summer we took Auletes on tour to Austria. For audiences there we played a serious and a fun concert. This Bon Jovi mix was part of the latter. So we had already played it a couple of times.”

Nine members were so taken with the rock mix that they formed a ‘fans of the Bon Jovi rock mix’ group. “The song has become a kind of meme for us. It's such fabulous, simple pop music, but we enjoyed it so much during that tour,” says Jongerius.

“We were apping each other late last Friday night when conductor Paul van Gils said ‘Why don't we just go ahead and record this piece together?’.” The idea didn't fall on deaf ears: Jasper van Noort quickly produced a click track for the piece, so that everyone could play it at the right tempo without having the conductor in front of them.

Merging 21 instruments

The Fontys student of Business Administration leapt right in and recorded three horn parts, and he shared the click track with the group. Everyone went to work, playing multiple parts, and sent their results on video to Van Noort, who wove everything into one piece. “Merging 21 instruments to form a coherent whole was a demanding job for my computer,” says the horn player.

The musicians are: Paul van Gils (conductor Auletes), Marieke Fieret (euphonium Auletes), Martin Basting (drummer Auletes - check out how many drumsticks he throws away at the start), Jasper van Noort (horn, editor and founder, Business Administration Fontys), Sanne Bleser (trumpet, BMT), Luuk Meeuwis (saxophone, Math), Siebren van Noort (trombone, Management Sciences), Mike van Gils (bassoon and saxophone, alumnus and former president of Japie) and Sabine Jongerius (Clarinet, Math).

Today their assembled performance premiered on Facebook. We are pleased to share it with you below!