Sonic Spaces

Having studied with Dutch bass clarinet soloists Harry Sparnaay and Henri Bok, MVG can be seen as an exponent of Dutch bass clarinet culture. In a process of continuous reflection and reinvention, MVG continues and expands on the pioneering work of her teachers, while searching for new directions and sonic possibilities. In close collaboration with composers, she uncovers her instrument’s relationship to electronics and digital media under project title Sonic Spaces. 

MVG presented the first program within her Sonic Spaces project in 2012. This program, titled SS:NNd, consisted of current music for bass clarinet and (live) electronics by Dutch and New Zealand composers and included 6 premieres. She toured New Zealand in May 2012 presenting SS:NNd and giving masterclasses, lectures, workshops, and seminars to composition and sonic arts students at all 5 music departments in the country. Since then she has created SS:UKs, a program with music by Dutch and British composers, and SS:EAm, a program created in collaboration with the Gaudeamus Festival. In 2017 she collaborated with composers from NOVARS, the electroacoustic music department at the University of Manchester, on a program called SS:ARs.

MVG studied bass clarinet with Henri Bok at Codarts in Rotterdam (2002-2007) and with Harry Sparnaay at the ESMUC in Barcelona (2007-2009). Before this she studied clarinet with Eli Eban at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where the technical foundations of her playing were developed. Other influential teachers are Jan Jansen, James Campbell, and José Luis Estellés. In 2010 she graduated cum laude in chemistry at Leiden University.