Black Pencil

Black Pencil is a game changer band with over a thousand years of musical history as its playing field. The possibilities of a huge collection of recorders, pan flutes, viola, accordion and percussion are endless - as is the curiosity and imagination of the five musicians.

With respect, knowledge and refinement, the most beautiful music is lifted from its historical place and emerges completely fresh. This is how 'melancholic Renaissance melodies can derail into jazz rock à la Miles Davis' (NRC).

Black Pencil initiates the challenge of writing new work, inspiring leading Dutch composers such as Roderik de Man, Martijn Padding, Klas Torstensson, Calliope Tsoupaki, Yannis Kyriakides, Aart Strootman, Klaas de Vries and Kate Moore. From abroad comes work by Wim Henderickx, Moritz Eggert and others, and by emerging composers with a great diversity in culture and background. Meanwhile, 450 new pieces have been composed for the band and it awards several composition prizes.

In 2010 - the year of their founding - Black Pencil 's debut concert took place at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and she performed several world premieres at the Istanbul European Capital of Culture. Since then, she has been a welcome guest in classical halls, and on stages and festivals in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Spain, Ireland, Turkey, Denemarken and Venezuela.

Black Pencil programmes its own concert series in Amsterdam and Almere, and collaborates with Land Art Flevoland and Schokland UNESCO World Heritage Site. Recent projects bring the band together with the world of virtual reality, theatre, dance and landscape art.