On and around Saturday 21 June 2025, the fourth edition of Composer’s Day will take place. Composer’s Day turns the Netherlands into one big music station. During the national festival, more than twenty participating cities will put their composers in the spotlight with all kinds of activities, such as concerts, workshops and lectures.
As a festive conclusion to Composer’s Day 2025, a special concert will take place at Utrecht Central Station, entitled A City Woven in Music. Nawras Altaky (1995) has been appointed composer laureate of Utrecht especially for this occasion, in a collaboration between New Music NOW and Gaudeamus. Altaky, a composer, vocalist and ud player born in Syria and based in Utrecht, has a special gift for connecting different music styles and cultural backgrounds.
The concert opens with the Maat Saxophone Quartet, which has traveled with the New Music NOW Express all day as a festival ensemble. They will play a composition by Frieda Gustavs, followed by the work This is your Favourite Music Station, composed especially for this day, together with Martin Fondse. A piece in which the audience can participate.
The highlight of the concert is the performance of Altaky’s new city composition, in which he collaborates with the Young Jazz Society Big Band led by Tijn Wybenga and saxophonist Kika Sprangers. In this spatial performance, Altaky explores his city of Utrecht “musically and culturally” and shows how different layers of society and cultures are interwoven into a living carpet.
The performance includes a striking visual element: a red carpet that unfolds from the station doors to the middle of the square, with musicians along the path creating a living soundscape. The Big Band is strategically positioned to envelop the audience in a “rich sonic embrace” – an immersive experience for everyone present.
After this, Nawaras will also participate in the Notenbal, starting at 20:15 in TivoliVredenburg.