Jurrien Sligter
studied piano with Jan Wijn, composition with Ton de Leeuw and music theory and conducting with David Porcelijn and Lucas Vis, all at the Amsterdam Conservatory. As a student he participated in the first performance of Ton de Leeuw’s gamelan composition Gending. He has conducted both the ASKO orchestra, the ASKO ensemble and the DELTA ensemble, which worked with Udo Reinneman, Charles van Tassel and Lucia Meeuwsen, among others, from 1984 to 1989.
At the Utrecht Conservatory Sligter currently leads contemporary music ensembles and is lector in music theory.
In 1988 he founded Ensemble Gending and in 1989 the BASHO Ensemble, devoted to the performance of 20th-century music in relation to other art forms.
Sligter has edited a book about composer Ton de Leeuw. He regularly published in the Dutch Journal of Music Theory on subjects related to music semiotics. He gave workshops and masterclasses at various music institutes a.o. in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Brno and Madrid.
Michel Ponsioen
Graduated as a classical percussionist in 1998 at the Conservatory of Utrecht. Then he continued his percussion studies at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 2000 for his master studies, specializing in solo and ensemble playing. From that time he played as a freelancer in several professional orchestras and (gamelan) ensembles. Also in musical theater and with various companies.
In addition to this work Ponsioen gives percussion lessons at the Hague Koorenhuis, SRMO in het Westland and Kunst en Vriendschap Zoetermeer and leads four amateur percussion groups. As an independent, he organizes various types of percussion workshops. He is also active as a composer of percussion music, and his works have been published by Dutch Music Partners.
Armeno Alberts
He studied piano at the Conservatory at Arnhem, composition with Walter Hekster and electronic music at the Institute for Sonology at Utrecht.
Besides composing for conventional instruments Alberts has been working with various visual artists on the development of installations and sculptures with a combined musical and visual starting point. Electronics play an important role in these projects. His most known projects are “the Cage” and “The Plagues”, both visual concerts with self-made instruments. Alberts was the inventor of the famous ‘Klankspeeltuin’, a setting of electronic music sculptures for children.
As a composer Alberts is specialised in autonomous tape music, and in real time generated soundscapes and since 1985 Alberts is a member of ensemble Gending, both as musician and as composer.
Between 1999 and 2009 het was artistic director of CEM (Centre of Electronic Music). He also worked from 1993 till 2014 as program maker / producer for the department of contemporary music at the VPRO Radio (a Dutch National Radio broadcaster).
Hans Witteman
Has studied with the 1th principle clarinettist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra Piet Honingh at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague. Soon he developed a strong affection for modern music with projects as “Storm”, “Drang” and “Studio K”. At the Conservatory he already met Balinese Gamelanmusic and then Gending.
Nowadays he makes the finest reeds for clarinet and plays clarinet and bassclarinet in “orkest de ereprijs” wich is also prominent ensemble for modern music.
Bente Olie
Bente Olie studied Classical Percussion at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Jan Pustjens, Viktor Oskam, Marinus Komst, Nick Woud en Peter Prommel. This was followed by two years of OMB.
Bente was a member of the famous Dutch percussion group Slagerij van Kampen for several years. Besides she played and plays as a freelancer with ensembles like AbSurdo (poldersamba), Zerafin (new compositions for ethnic instruments), Multifoon (12tone gamelan) and Insomnio (modern repertoire).
As a teacher Bente works for herself as well as for Scholen in de Kunst and FluXus. Bente teaches gamelan and other percussion in elementary schools. She is author of Basisboek Drums, a method for playing the drumset.