Artvark

Artvark: a band with four saxophones and no boundaries in sight. It was alto player Rolf Delfos who came up with the idea in 2005: four completely different characters, in music and in life. Says tenorist Mete Erker: “Rolf knew all three of us, but the three of us did not know each other. We hit it off right away, and after 17 years we still can’t stop talking and playing. We are still reinventing ourselves and our music.”

The latest (of September 2021) Artvark album is called Mother of Thousand, and can be seen as the culmination of life during the pandemic. Mete: “The pandemic gave us time and focus. We started working on a new album. Bart Wirtz, our alto player, built a new, fully equipped studio. This gave us the opportunity to engage in a way of writing that was completely new to us: by recording small ideas, layering, and processing them.” Mete mentions inspirations like Arvo Pårt and Aphex Twin, and the music of Philip Glass, with whom Artvark had the honour of playing a concert in 2019.

In 2022, Artvark has performed with singer-songwriter Pitou and with world champion breakdancer Menno van Gorp. It has been quite a trip, from the initial chamber music setting, playing music from other saxophone quartets, to getting rid of the music stands, writing their own music, tapping into an original sound, inspired by all music and other art forms. “We love playing as a quartet, and we love to collaborate. Please check our website for an impression of the wide array of projects we are involved in.”

Mete Erker – tenor saxophone
Bart Wirtz – saxophone
Rolf Delfos – saxophone
Peter Broekhuizen – saxophone