Vincent Houdijk [Netherlands] & Algarve Contemporary Percussion Group

To close DPP'22, we present the result of the artistic creation residence of Vincent Houdijk (NL) in close collaboration with AGP - Algarve Contemporary Percussion Group. The residency has taken place in the auditorium of Portimão Museum since September 8th and it was during this period of time that this collaboration took place to present us with a mixture of various types of music: classical, folk, improvisation and tango, based on a Romantic point of view. The evening will consist of works by Piazzolla, Dvorak, Trevino and others.

Credits:

Vincent Houdijk: vibraphone and marimba
Algarve Contemporary Percussion Group: Vasco Ramalho (artistic direction), Pedro Branco, João Paias, Luis Casal, David Pires, Beatriz Alberto

Vincent Houdijk

He is a virtuous and versatile Dutch percussionist, who has specialized himself in melodic percussion. The combination of his classical and jazz studies gave him a broad view on music making him an inspiring and joyful music artist and teacher with an even so open mind.
Houdijk draws his inspiration from various music sources: from pop to minimal music, from jazz to world music. This open attitude allows him to create a personal, contemporary musical story, with a good sense of harmony, melody and swing. In 2007, he founded his band VinnieVibes; an energetic and compelling band, much appreciated by its fans and many important music programmers. In 2016 Vincent was named Young VIP and elected 'Most promising Jazz Talent of The Netherlands' and he won a nationwide tour in all major jazz venues, joined by VinnieVibes. In 2018 Vincent Houdijk & VinnieVibes were invited to perform at the world famous North Sea Jazz Festival, where they recorded their third album “Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival” (live) which received wonderful worldwide reviews from jazz critics.
Vincent regularly plays solo concerts with and without orchestras and/or bands. He is also part of the trio TRIFID, has a gorgeous duo with the Portuguese talented singer Maria Mendes, and a duo with trumpeter Teus Nobel. Vincent is the coordinator and principal teacher at the Fontys Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Tilburg and a vibraphone teacher at the classical department at Codarts Rotterdam. He has worked with, among others: Ravi Coltrane, Sean Jones, Roberto Quintero, Luisito Quintero, Maria Mendes, Eric Vloeimans, Bert Boeren, Bart Wirtz, Ilja Reijngoud, Paul Hanson, Kabeção, Teus Nobel, Scholtes Janssens Piano Duo, Arthur Jussen & Lucas Jussen, Ivo Janssen, Remy van Kesteren, Wouter Hamel, Kyteman (Hip Hop Orchestra), Mathilde Santing, the Residentie Orkest and the Metropole Orchestra.

www.vincenthoudijk.com

AGP - Algarve Grupo de Percussão Contemporânea

Created in 2019 by the percussionist Vasco Ramalho, with the goal of creating a professional percussion group capable of presenting on stage the great works of contemporary percussion, with musicians residing in the region. The members of this group are: Pedro Branco, João Paias [Percussion major at the University of Évora], and Luis Casal. They premiered VENTANIA Barlavento Performing Arts Festival, in October 2020 in Portimão. In 2021, they premiered João Pedro Oliveira's piece "In the House of the Glass King", commissioned by the Festival Dias da Percussão Portimão 2021, written for Vasco Ramalho, marimba; Nuno Aroso, vibraphone and Algarve Grupo de Percussão Contemporânea. For this concert AGP will be composed by: João Paias, Luís Casal, Pedro Branco, David Pires, Beatriz Alberto and Vasco Ramalho.

Vasco Ramalho

Born in 1982 in Reguengos de Monsaraz - Portugal. He started his musical studies at the age of 12 in EPMEV, course that he concluded in 2000 with high classification. In the same year he entered the University of Évora where he graduated in percussion in 2005. Between 2006 and 2008 he attended a Post-Graduation in solo marimba at the Royal Conservatory Antwerp - Belgium with professor Ludwig Albert. He has participated in several international courses and festivals, among which the following stand out Zeltsman Marimba Festival 2003 which took place in Appleton - WI - USA; Ludwig Albert Academy 2006 - Belgica; Keiko Abe Academy 2007 - Belgium where he worked with Keiko Abe; IPEW 2008 and 2019 - Croatia. UÉ music festival 2013, Tomarimbando 2014 and 2017, Percussion Friends 2017 at the Amsterdam Conservatory, among others. Precursor of percussion in the southern region of Portugal, since 2005 has managed to start the percussion class in several Conservatories and Academies. He was the artistic director of the VII editions of FINTP Portimão, the I and II FIPAC and the IV editions of the Évora International Percussion Festival. In July 2017 he released his first CD, Vasco Ramalho - Essências de Marimba, Fados & Choros. Since 2012 Vasco Ramalho has been an Adams’ artist, one of the most respected percussion instrument brands worldwide, and since 2019 of Innovative Percussion, Zildjian and Remo brands. He is currently a teacher at Conservatório de Música de Loulé - Francisco Rosado and Conservatório Regional de Évora - Eborae Musica. PhD student in Digital Media-Art at the University of Algarve/Universidade Aberta and researcher at CIAC.