Atlas Orchestra

A specially assembled orchestra of over forty top musicians from Europe and Asia presents the world premiere of a new composition by Joël Bons. The result is a rich instrumental diversity, featuring related string, wind, and percussion instruments from China, Japan, Korea, India, Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Syria, Turkey, and Europe. This creates a sonic world where traditions merge.

Bons, founder of the Atlas Ensemble in 2002, composed this new piece specifically for this unique ensemble. He previously created Nomaden, a work that earned him the prestigious 2019 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition—often referred to as the "Nobel Prize of Music."

'I imagine a large group of players from all corners of the world, each with different instruments, a wide range of colours and cultures that finds expression in various formations, forging unique relationships.'

– Joël Bons 

The concert by the Atlas Orchestra is a co-production with the Oranjewoud Festival, NTR ZaterdagMatinee, Stichting Atlas & Co, and percussion ensemble HIIIT. In recent years, the Oranjewoud Festival has presented various projects with Bons and his musicians—a series of experiments and discoveries that now culminate in this composition, premiering at the Holland Festival. As a prelude, a special Atlas Festival will take place from June 13 to 15, 2025, during the Oranjewoud Festival. In 2004, the Atlas Ensemble was featured at the Holland Festival as an ensemble in residence, hosting workshops, masterclasses, and groundbreaking premieres by composers such as Frangiz Ali-Zade, Bun-Ching Lam, and Jack Body.