In December 2011, the Huygens-Fokker Foundation will present the first microtonal festival ever to take place in the Dutch capital, under the title MicroFest Amsterdam 2011. With this event, the foundation follows in the footsteps of the Los Angeles-based MicroFest and UK MicroFest in London. Through a broad and varied programme showcasing the most diverse forms of microtonality, the festival aims to meet the interests of many enthusiastic listeners and those curious about unconventional tunings and microtonal music — music that, as the famous American composer Charles Ives described it, consists of “the tones between the keys of the piano.”
A significant aspect of the concerts during the festival is that, in contrast to the Fokker organ concerts which are based on 31-tone technique, there will also be performances focusing on other microtonal systems. Attention will therefore be given to, among others, 31-tone music, 19-tone music, quarter-tone music, 96-tone music, music in Bohlen-Pierce tuning, in meantone tuning, and music based on overtone series — all founded on well-tested divisions of the octave. These divisions or tunings give rise to entirely new musical and tonal possibilities; a source of fresh sounds that broaden the listener’s ear and forever alter the way we think about music.
The programme will also demonstrate that various conventional instruments, such as the clarinet, are capable of producing exact microtones. Furthermore, during the festival, an effort will be made to position Dutch microtonality within the broader international context.
With this one-day festival, the Huygens-Fokker Foundation aims to raise public awareness of the fact that our conventional twelve-tone system is not a fixed given, but a human choice dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries — a choice that has not been entirely fortunate in every respect. For example, our currently dominant twelve-tone system lacks several important harmonic possibilities that are inherent in the natural overtone series. Acquiring this kind of knowledge through concerts and other activities during MicroFest Amsterdam is one of the primary objectives of the festival.
The main mission of MicroFest and its organiser, the Huygens-Fokker Foundation, is to develop and make knowledge of microtonal music accessible to a wide audience. As a centre for microtonal music, the foundation occupies a unique position within the Dutch musical landscape. Through its regular concerts featuring the Fokker organ, there is growing attention to alternative tunings and microtonality. For this reason, the Huygens-Fokker Foundation considers it important to give this special music extra focus in the form of a one-day festival. Such a festival already exists in other countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, and now rightly finds a place in one of Europe’s most culturally rich cities: Amsterdam.
The concert series, organised since last season by the Huygens-Fokker Foundation in collaboration with the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, has shown that there is a diverse audience for microtonal music, consisting not only of specialists in the field but also of listeners from all corners of the Netherlands.
