For many years I had the pleasure to work closely with a great friend and composer; Anthony Fiumara. He was one of the founders of Lunapark where we did many pieces and arrangements for marimba. Anthony’s music is minimal but expressive, and I played a lot of his chamber music, before I commissioned him two pieces.



The clock of the long now – for harp and one percussionist (vibes, glockenspiel, gran cassa) (2015)
Program note on the piece by Anthony: “When I was a child, people used to talk about what would happen by the year 2000. For the next thirty years they kept talking about what would happen by the year 2000, and now no one mentions a future date at all. The future has been shrinking by one year per year for my entire life. I think it is time for us to start a long-term project that gets people thinking past the mental barrier of an ever-shortening future. I would like to propose a large (think Stonehenge) mechanical clock, powered by seasonal temperature changes. It ticks once a year, bongs once a century, and the cuckoo comes out every millennium.” — Daniel Hillis 
I was reading about the Clock of the Long Now, and I tried to imagine this huge machine chiming in a distant future, for the first time in centuries. Who would be listening to these sounds? What would they hear? And what future would they be dreaming of?
Commisioned by and written for Remy van Kesteren and Ramon Lormans.

An Index of Wood – for marimba solo (2017)
After long talks on marimba and the sound of wood, I played for 2 hours repertoire on marimba for Anthony. Who had all kinds of questions afterwards, very specific, and went off super inspired. Within two days I received 5 movements, almost finished, of a new piece he called ‘an Index of Wood’. He said I could always choose what movements I wanted to perform. The piece is a great one in total too, with a clear subject per movement. One chorale, one rhythmic variation arpeggio movement, one based on the new Milkov technique in the style of Phillip Glass, one chord and arpeggio movement and one David Lang kind of ending. I’m very happy with this piece, and will record it on the marimba solo album soon!

Bosch Requiem – Memorial Park – for TEMKO, Holland Baroque and Netherlands Chamber Choir
World premiere by TEMKO, Holland Baroque and Netherlands Chamber Choir conducted by Mathieu Romano at Theater aan de Parade Den Bosch on 2nd of November 2017. 

November Music continues the tradition of the Hieronimus Bosch manifestation by commissioning festival composer Anthony Fiumara to write a new requiem. Three of his favourite ensembles perform Memorial Park. Namely, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, Holland Baroque, and TEMKO with Aart Strootman on guitar, Fred Jacobsson on Bass and Ramon Lormans on mallets and drums under the baton of Mathieu Romano. Fiumara’s compositions are characterised by a pure beauty that is timeless. The well-known Dutch author Désanne van Brederode, who tends to subtly weave philosophical and topical affairs into her texts, has written a splendid and poetic libretto. The Belgian actor and master narrator Peter De Graef puts the human soul under the magnifying glass and does so with humour and compassion. Visual artist Marianne van Heeswijk has created a work specifically for this night in which the audience is invited to participate from 8 PM onwards on the square in front of the theatre. Madeleine Matzer and Jur van der Lecq (Matzer Theaterproducties) designed the mise-en-scène.

www.anthonyfiumara.com