Concerning the Fanfare

It truly was a pleasure to write the brilliant overture “YOKOHAMA WINDS”. The commissioning instance the Yokohama Arts Festival Executive Committee requested me to compose this piece, bearing in mind that it should be playable by high school bands and community bands afterwards (the premier performance being given by outstanding professionals …!). It’s a challenging piece but it’s not extremely difficult or complicated: it on the contrary is written in an accessible idiom and it certainly is playable by a large number of bands. Japan has a vibrant band (wind orchestra) life and I’m always happy to visit your country as you might know. By the way: as requested, the opening “Fanfare” (featuring the entire brass section) can be played separately (with or without percussion)! I hope this new contribution to the band repertoire will become another popular piece – not only in Japan but also abroad. It will thus make the “name and fame” of Yokohama even more known all over the world!

Musically yours, Jan Van der Roost Belgium

JAN VAN DER ROOST

Jan Van der Roost was born in Duffel, Belgium, in 1956. He studied trombone, history of music and musical education at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (Louvain) and continued his studies at the Royal Conservatoires of Ghent and Antwerp, where he qualified as a conductor and a composer. At present, he teaches at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (Belgium), is guest professor at the “Nagoya University of Art” and visiting professor at Senzoku Gakuen in Kawasaki (Japan). Besides being a prolific composer, he is very much in demand as an adjudicator, lecturer, clinician and a guest conductor: his increasing musical activities brought him to more than 40 different countries in 4 continents, whereas his compositions are being performed and recorded all over the world.