On Sunday, 21 December 2025, at 3 p.m., the Luna Quartet will perform.string quartet for contemporary music, as part of the Nieuwe Noten Amsterdam concert series at the Plein Theatre in Amsterdam East. Luna Quartet presents two pieces inspired by nature: Vegetation (2019) fromKunsu Shim – followed by Sharing Space (with a river) (2025) from Alison Isadora. The composition Sharing Space (with a river) by Alison Isadora is a premiere.
Since August 2024, Alison Isadora has been visiting the Meinerswijk in Arnhem: overgrown floodplains with Roman roots and an industrial history. Horses and cattle roam freely, and the marshlands are home to a wide variety of resident and migratory birds. Project developers are also showing interest.
Listening to the birds, insects and amphibians, traffic and construction vehicles that populate this sonic environment, Alison Isadora became aware of competing demands, of problems with sharing space. How does this change throughout the year and how does it affect the soundscape?
Field recordings made during different seasons reveal the complex sonic relationship between the human and non-human worlds and form the core material for Sharing Space.
Meinerswijk is a dynamic ecosystem that is influenced by flooding, drought, construction work and other factors, the timing and impact of which cannot be fully predicted. Sharing Space explores this instability through projected visual ‘interruptions’ to which the musicians respond. The flow of the work shifts and a new balance must be found.
Performers
Luna Quartet
Janneke van Prooijen violin
Shannon Lee violin
Elisabeth Smalt, viola
Katharina Gross, cello
Programme
Kunsu Shim – Vegetation (2019)
Alison Isadora – Sharing Space (with a river) (2025)
Luna Quartet
, string quartet for contemporary music, has been striving for the very latest since 2018. Luna Quartet deliberately seeks the frayed edges of new and experimental music, based on the awareness that this is where history is made. Without reserve, the four string players deploy their expertise and go far in pushing boundaries.
Short bbiography composer Alison Isadora
Born and raised in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Alison Isadora is a performing composer and teacher who has been working in the Netherlands since 1986. She studied political philosophy and music at Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), violin (with Vera Beths) and composition (with Gilius van Bergeijk and Theo Loevendie) at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, and completed a postgraduate course in performance theatre at DasArts in Amsterdam.
Alison Isadora has worked as a performing composer with numerous Dutch groups, and her works are performed by various ensembles in the Pacific, Europe and North America, including Ensemble Klang, David Kweksilber Big Band, Matangi String Quartet, Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, Array Ensemble (Canada) and STROMA Ensemble (NZ). In addition to composing for music ensembles, Isadora creates music theatre performances, audio walks and installations.
In recent years, she has become increasingly interested in the possibilities of connecting music with other disciplines. Her work often incorporates elements of storytelling and participation, focusing on social issues. As a music teacher, Alison Isadora has explored elements of sound and composition with dance, choreography and theatre students at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem (NL), and with postgraduate art students at Victoria University of Wellington (NZ).
New Notes Amsterdam
With a penchant for experimentation and innovation, the Plein Theatre presents Nieuwe Noten Amsterdam. Brand new compositions by leading musicians form the ingredients of this concert series for contemporary chamber music. Bass clarinettist Fie Schouten and composer Aspasia Nasopoulou curate the series, which can be heard every month on Sunday afternoons. Usually in the Plein Theatre itself, sometimes on location.
www.plein-theater.nl/nieuwe-noten
Sunday, 21 December, 3:00–4:00 p.m.
New Notes Amsterdam: Luna Quartet
Line-up: Janneke van Prooijen (violin), Shannon Lee (violin), Elisabeth Smalt (viola), Katharina Gross (cello)
Tickets: €12.50 (from) Standard: €19.50 | Professional musicians/composers: €15 | CJP/Student/<26: €12.50 | Stadspas Groene Stip: €2.50
Ticket link: https://plein-theater.nl/agenda/18887/nieuwe-noten-amsterdam-luna-quartet
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