Stormvogel (born 1968) is an ‘uomo universalis’ from The Netherlands, active in the field of music, literature, art, theatre and graphic design, also as a concert/festival organizer, educator, journalist, teacher and storyteller. Stormvogel was awarded with the first Amer Award (2005) for his broad range of artistic efforts and achievements.
MUSIC
As a keyboardist/bandleader/composer, Stormvogel is mainly active in the field of (electroacoustic) jazz, jazzbarock, impro, worldfusion and electronical vintage music. Main qualities next to piano and E-piano (rhodes), are his use of analoge synthesizers, odd meter rhythms and modular composing structures. He works with both nationally and internationally renowned artists. Over recent years Stormvogel has shared stage and studio with artists like Theodosii Spassov & Lucas van Merwijk, Tommy Smith, Niladri Kumar, Nabil Khemir, Joe Bowie, Tineke Postma, Oene van Geel, Chander Sardjoe, Eef Albers, Ben van den Dungen, Onno Witte, Jeroen Pek and keymembers of the Metropole Orkest like Ruud Breuls, Peter Tiehuis, Bart van Lier, Arno van Nieuwenhuize, Marc Scholten and Leo Janssen.
JAZZBAROCK
Inspired by all kinds of jazz, jazzrock, prog and Zeuhl, as well as Indo-European traditional, medieval, barok, classical, symphonic and contemporary music, Stormvogel invented a genre called ‘Jazzbarock’. The music, mainly based on odd-meter unisono ostinato principles, decorated with odd-scaled melodic mantra’s, is often accompanied by an occult medievalogic context and theatre. The music is of modular structure (meaning: the movements and modules can be played in different order each performance).
ALTER EGO JAZZBAROCK CONSORT
To perform his ‘Drakenburger Concerto’s’, he founded his Alter Ego Jazzbarock Consort in 1998, consisting of artists with differing musical background (jazz, classical, world, rock) Several renowned artists joined AE over the years, among them Tineke Postma, Wieke Garcia, Chander Sardjoe, Onno Witte, Thomas Winther Andersen, Daphne Balvers, Thijs van Otterloo, David de Marez Oyens, Wiro Mahieu and the late Rob van den Broeck. Anno 2013 Alter Ego consists of Stormvogel, Onno Witte, David de Marez Oyens, Remko Smid and Angelo Boltini, Wieke Garcia and Arjen de Graaf.
EEMSAGA & DRAKENBURG
Stormvogel was born near the river Eem (Amer), where several castles were build in the middle ages and -later on- the palaces of the Orange princes and kings. The Rise and Fall of the medieval House of Drakenburg became the epic context for his musical/theatrical works (like Drakenburger Concerto’s) In the mid nineties Stormvogel has been a main force behind mysteryplays and crossover events like ‘Eemsaga’. For this, Stormvogel studies medieval culture, folklorology and history, next to subjects as theosophy, religion and occultism. Nowadays, he is working on a project ’Atuatuca’.
FESTIVAL DE MUZEN
Between 2006 and 2015, Stormvogel yearly presented Festival de Muzen: an adventurous programme in the field of jazzrock, progjazz, modern creative, electro-acoustic jazz, worldfusion, electronical vintage music, musique concrete and improvised music, sometimes enriched with other artistic disciplines like dance, poetry and art. Since 2009 Festival de Muzen has been a fully integrated part of the yearly Amersfoort Jazz Festival, hosting international artists. Festival de Muzen was broadcasted by Dutch National Radio VPRO/Radio6.
BOHEMIAN GROOVE ORCHESTRA
The adventurous Bohemian Groove Orchestra started as a joint (ad)venture, merging jazzrock projects Alter Ego and PitchWhiteStorm into one ensemble. Lined up with two bassists, BGO performs epic & ecclectic works composed by its founding members Stormvogel, Jeroen Pek, Onno Witte, Wieke Garcia and David de Marez Oyens. BGO also accompanies guest soloists at Festival de Muzen, among them international artists from the event Gateway to Global Jazz like Niladri Kumar and Tommy Smith.
GLOBAL ALTERNATIVE ENERGY ATTACK
In 2012 he founded the free jazzrock project Global Alternative Energy Attack (GAEA) with , drummer Arno van Nieuwenhuize, inviting the finest masters of Dutch fusion, like Ruud Breuls, Leo Janssen and Peter Tiehuis (mainly from the Metropole Orchestra), next to Eef Albers, Onno Witte and David de Marez Oyens.
BANDMEMBER & SIDEMAN
Besides with his own groups, Stormvogel works (or has been working) with groups like Lucas van Merwijk’s Music Machine ft. Theodosii Spassov (Balkan/Latin Fusion), Tommy Smith & Alyn Cosker KARMA (jazzrock), PitchWhiteStorm (electroacoustic jazz), Onno Witte’s Wildcard (jazzrock), Phaedra Kwant (jazzpop), SaraLee Vos (souljazz) and Wieke Garcia (worldfusion). Since 2012 Stormvogel participated in new projects with Jasper de Beer (groove), Jeroen Vrolijk (fusion), Arno van Nieuwenhuize (ambient), Leo Janssen (nordic jazz) and in 2013 Marc Scholten & Bart van Lier (chamber). In 2015 he started collaboration with Tunesian ud-virtuoso Nabil Khemir.
Stormvogel performed in The Netherlands and abroad with (inter-)nationally renowned artists like Niladri Kumar, Nikolai Ivanov, Roman Stolyar, Luca Aquino, Tineke Postma, Chander Sardjoe, Oene van Geel, Rob van den Broeck, Jeroen Pek, Onno Witte, Arno van Nieuwenhuize, David de Marez Oyens, Ruud Breuls, Leo Janssen, Eef Albers, Peter Tiehuis, Ben van den Dungen, Saskia Laroo, Susanne Alt, Jeroen Vrolijk, Alexander Beets, Marius Beets and many others.
COMPOSER
Stormvogel also composes and produces music for films, exhibitions and ballets. During the nineties he worked with artists like Oscar Prinsen, Simon Drost, Anne Boree, Leanne Lawalata and Klaas Kloosterhuis. His synthesizer symphonies Babyboom (1996), Eemsaga (1997) and Naked (1998) were choreographed by Dagmar Holsträter and performed by Faut Pas Ballet (Germany). Since 2007 he works with Vraja Sundari Keilman (Samadhi Dance Company), combining modern ballet with traditional dance from India. Stormvogel’s music is also used by renowned filmmakers like Marc van Uchelen and Hans Quatfass.
UOMO UNIVERSALIS
Besides being a musician, Stormvogel works (or has been working) as a graphical artist and designer, as an author, journalist, historian, (theatre) producer, teacher, poet and organizer of concerts and festivals. Stormvogel is (or has been) regularly assigned by Amersfoort Jazzfestival, Maxanter Records, Artishock Jazz, JazzNL Foundation, HazArt Foundation, Fontys Young Musicians Academy Tilburg, Foontys Art Academy & conservatorium, OWME Records et al.
STORMVOGEL ARTISTIEK BEDRIJF (STAB)
Stormvogel runs his own company STAB (music, text, art, design, concert & festival organization, promotion and education). STAB has been assigned by several organizations and institues like Amersfoort Jazz, Jazzdag (BUMA), Jazz a/d Amer, Festival de Muzen, Immer, JazzNL, FHK Academy, for “edditorial design” and promotion (Jazz aan de Amer). STAB is also an independent record label, specialized in adventurous genres of music like jazzbarock and Dutch ‘Vintage Electronical Music’. In the realm of education STAB offers several lessons, lectures, workshops and musical methods.