Alex Poelman

Partners

Commissioned & performed by

From leading professional and military bands to passionate amateur ensembles — the groups who have commissioned and premiered my music.

NEOS Brass

Netherlands

NEOS Brass was a joint initiative of a small group of talented musicians with a passion for playing at the highest level. It was, at the time, the only professional brass ensemble in the Netherlands. Its members were professional musicians who earned their living with various other orchestras but came together, often for concerts, as NEOS Brass. The roughly twenty players performed with ensembles such as the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Het Gelders Orkest and the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Since 2019 the ensemble no longer exists, as more and more members found a permanent place in one of the Netherlands’ leading professional orchestras.

Commissioned‘Theophoros’

Regimentsfanfare Garde Grenadiers en Jagers

Netherlands

Professional Dutch military band, founded in 2005, that accompanies ceremonial occasions such as command transfers and brings the armed forces and the public together through concerts in venues from schools to theatres.

Commissioned‘1944’‘1953’‘D-Day’ Brass ensemble
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Orkest Koninklijke Marechaussee

Apeldoorn, Netherlands

The professional fanfare orchestra of the Dutch Koninklijke Marechaussee, based in Apeldoorn. Founded in 1950, it performs at military ceremonies and state occasions such as Veterans’ Day and the National Tattoo, and tours internationally across Europe and beyond.

Commissioned‘KMartial Arts’
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Musidesk

Netherlands

Musidesk is the professional partner and knowledge centre for instrumental amateur arts in the eastern Netherlands. It supports (wind) music associations, musicians and libraries with advice, collection management and inspiring collaborations. Its work centres on three core tasks: musical advice, collection management and strengthening networks.

Commissioned‘Rapa Nui’

Studenten Harmonie Orkest Twente

Enschede, Netherlands

The student wind orchestra of the University of Twente, founded in 1991 and conducted by Ronny Buurink since 1993. Its roughly sixty members compete in national contests and tour internationally every couple of years.

Commissioned‘Pleiades’‘Christmas Island: Crab Migration’
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Arti et Religioni Alphen aan den Rijn

Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands

The concert wind band of the Arti et Religioni association, some fifty musicians known locally for their musical quality and distinctive programmes ranging from original wind repertoire and classical works to film, musical and world music.

Commissioned‘Pinocchio’
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Muziekvereniging St. Caecilia Hank

Hank, Netherlands

Lively fanfare band that has long been a familiar presence in the village of Hank, performing everything from cosy village concerts to themed and exchange programmes. The association nurtures its own players through a beginners’ brass class, a training orchestra and the main orchestra.

Commissioned‘Biesbosch Line-Crossers’
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ZomerOrkest Nederland

Netherlands

National youth wind orchestra, founded in 1987, that each summer brings together talented musicians and conservatory students aged 16 to 23 from across the Netherlands. Newly assembled every year, it commissions new works, invites guest soloists and young conductors, and performs open-air concerts in town squares and other public spaces. ZON commissioned and premiered Draco in 2008.

Commissioned‘Draco’
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Koninklijke Harmonie Oosterbeek

Oosterbeek, Netherlands

Wind orchestra that consists of about fifty musicians whose programmes range from original modern wind repertoire and classical arrangements to film, musical and light music, and who each year provide the music for the Airborne Remembrance ceremony at the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Oosterbeek. It is the orchestra where Alex Poelman started playing.

Commissioned‘Pegasus’
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Federatie Enschedese Muziekverenigingen

Enschede, Netherlands

The FEM was an umbrella organisation founded in 1926, uniting Enschede’s harmonie, fanfare and brass band societies and fairly distributing the municipal subsidy among them. When the municipality changed its subsidy policy, the federation lost its purpose and dissolved itself in 2023, after nearly a century.

Commissioned‘Nahr-al-Alwaan’

Adoramus Choir and Orchestra

Cockfosters, London, United Kingdom

Choir and orchestra founded in 1996 by David Hooke, then Music Director at Christ Church, Cockfosters, and led by him ever since. Its programmes range from opera to gospel, and across some ninety concerts the ensemble has recorded five CDs and appeared on BBC Songs of Praise.

Commissioned‘D-Day’ Symphony orchestra & Choir

KESFO Nieuw Leven Vianen

Vianen, Netherlands

Koninklijk Erkend Stedelijk Fanfare Orkest “Nieuw Leven” was a fanfare band from Vianen, founded in 1931. Facing a declining membership, the band disbanded in 2017 after 85 years.

Commissioned‘Nahr-al-Alwaan’ Fanfare band

Commission

Commission a new work?

Whether you’re a professional orchestra or an amateur band with an idea, I’d love to write something for you.

It starts with a conversation. Together we discuss the kind of work and its subject — whether you already have a topic in mind or I should come up with one — the difficulty, the instrumentation, and the strengths of your orchestra, band or ensemble. We also settle when you want it finished, the effort involved, and the funding needed to make it happen. And of course you will be added to this partner page.

contact [at] alexpoelman [dot] com