The Foundation
Tonality Music is the organizing body behind the musical activities of jazz musicians Rembrandt Frerichs, Tony Overwater and Vinsent Planjer.
Together they form the Rembrandt Trio, Tonality Music’s core musical unit. From it springs a multitude of different formations that operate in the combined realms of jazz, European classical music and art music from the Middle East.
Cross-genre. Over the past years, Tonality Music has produced some 60 performances every year throughout Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and the United States. They have been presented in concert halls, clubs, festivals as well as unexpected places like museums.
Concerts often feature guest musicians in different and always varying constellations. Many times, traditional genre-lines are crossed quite radically. This artistic characteristic also allows for a non-traditional approach to audiences outreach.
Musical projects are frequently produced in close cooperation with music venues and festivals – through artist-in-residences, curatorships and composition assignments. Frerichs, Overwater and Planjer actively seek out potential project partners who share their adventurous view on music.
Cross-discipline. Increasingly, Tonality Music has been organizing educational projects for the stimulation of young talent and to offer guidance to young professionals. This is done through workshops, masterclasses and jam sessions. Also, the Tonality musicians regularly provide ‘awareness concerts’ groups of corporate professionals outside the creative arena, to address the principles of creativity and improvisation.
For most projects Tonality Music will usually provide a portion of the funding through subsidies, grants and sponsorships, which forms a solid basis for the success of the projects.
Tonality Music is organized as a foundation (non-profit), is registered at the Chamber of Commerce in The Hague and has an independent Board of Directors.
‘Nothing less than a complete and utter unexpected masterpiece’
Ken Hunt, fRoots Magazine (UK) on ‘It’s still Autumn’
Rembrandt Frerichs (1977) is a pianist-composer and an artistic initiator for festivals and concert halls. With the Rembrandt Trio (percussionist Vinsent Planjer and bass player Tony Overwater), he has travelled the world with original compositions, and collaborated with many colleagues in jazz and world music.
Strong personalities in classical music embrace Rembrandt’s contemporary way of working with classical structures as a challenge to get out of their comfort zone. Renowned ensembles invite Rembrandt for compositions or collaboration, a piano concerto has been commissioned by musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to be premièred in 2021.
Festivals seek after Rembrandt’s expertise and ability to create unorthodox musical connections by giving him carte blanche on programming. Among them are contemporary music festival November Music and literature festival Crossing Border, and concert halls such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, De Doelen and TivoliVredenburg.
For more information, please visit the website of Rembrandt Frerichs, Facebook or Instagram.
Bass player Tony Overwater (1965) is an award-winning solo performer, leader of self-initiated projects and a collaborative sideman. His pioneering work in Arab music started in 1995 when touring with the Yuri Honing Trio.
Overwater developed a unique playing style on the acoustical bass which allows him to play the microtonality of the Arab scales. He recorded several albums with Rima Khcheich and eventually became the musical director of her ensemble. Overwater started a salon for Arab music in the Netherlands, Salon Joussour, for musicians from the Middle East and Europe to meet each other as well as new audiences.
Together with Rembrandt Frerichs and percussionist/drummer Vinsent Planjer, Overwater formed the Rembrandt Trio in 2009. He has created music for many documentaries, among which the Berlin Award winning documentary ‘Justice For Sergei’ and ‘Om de Oude Wereldzee’ about Dutch politician Abraham Kuyper.
For more information, please visit the website of Tony Overwater, Facebook or Instagram.
Drummer-percussionist Vinsent Planjer (1972) graduated with honors from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. From the start, he has found his way in a wide range of musical settings. With the emphasis always on jazz, he has also shared the stage with actors and dancers in the theater circuit. In 2013 he released his first album as a leader and composer, to critical acclaim.
As part of the Rembrandt Trio, Planjer developed his signature drum set, the so-called ‘Whisper Kit’; an eclectic mix of percussion instruments from all over the world, partly self-built.
Vinsent Planjer is known for his successful and organic mix of extreme sensitivity and at times explosive expressiveness.
For more information, please visit Vinsent’s profile on Facebook or Instagram.
Rembrandt, Tony and Vinsent form the core of the Tonality team, but in order to make all these projects a reality, many people lend their talent and hard work to the great artistic effort. These are musicians, of course, but also photographers, sound engineers, videographers, production managers, booking agents, translators, website builders, social media advisors, data engineers, presenters, the list goes on…
Documents concerning the foundation (in Dutch):
– reglement van bestuur stichting Tonality 2024
– Procedure bij belangenverstrengeling Stichting Tonality
– Beloningsbeleid Stichting Tonality