Free improvisation

Projects will be listed as follows: most recent projects first, the oldest last.

Duo Lontano

Peter Sterk: piano, church organ, electronics.
Hans Tonino: flutes.

Duo Lontano has existed for more than 10 years and came into being from Trio Lontano (see somewhere below sometime). Our core business is free improvisation, though sometimes we work from some simple predetermined principles. In the second case, we would call that 'comprovisation' (a term coined by our friend French composer and improvisator Étienne Rolin).

In November 2024, we started a special project in the Danish Seaman's Church in Rotterdam (see picture below). The idea is to explore different possibilities of the church organ together with flutes, such as piccolo, bass, and contrabass flutes. Specifically, we are interested in sound textures. The result of this project will probably be an album on Bandcamp. Here is a teaser.

Duo HET-R

Etienne Rolin: glissotar, basset horn, Bansuri flute.
Hans Tonino: flutes, electronics.

Etienne and Hans first met in 2021 at the European Intuitive Music Conference (EIMC) in Basel. They met again in 2023 during the EIMC in Bordeaux. Thus began their collaboration, not only musically but also organisationally, as from the beginning of 2023 they both are in the organising committee of the EIMC. They published two albums on Bandcamp: Whirlwinds (2023) and Flautando (2024).

Rappels des oiseaux (from the Bandcamp album Whirlwinds).

Trio RST

Etienne Rolin: glissotar, basset horn, alto flute, Bansuri flute.

Peter Sterk: piano, Yamaha DX7, Korg synthesizer modules.
Hans Tonino: flutes.

This collaboration is a kind of follow-up to the European Music Conferences (EIMC) in Basel (2021) and Bordeaux (2023). All three members were present then. In 2024 we recorded the Bandcamp album 'Rotterdam Resonance', where very different atmospheres come together, sometimes even jazzy.

Miles' manner (from the Bandcamp album Rotterdam Resonance).

Trio Basel

Guus Derkzen: alto sax.

Peter Sterk: piano, Yamaha DX7, Korg synthesizer modules.
Hans Tonino: flute, piccolo.

Trio Basel consists of three friends who know each other from the Rotterdam Improvisation Pool (R:IP). The trio is a follow-up to the European Music Conference (EIMC) in Basel (2021) where all three of us participated and shared an AirBnB. We decided to play together in Peter's studio in January 2022 and were surprised by the result ‘Improvisations 1’. We did another session in December 2023 that led to a second album on Bandcamp, ‘Improvisations 2’.

Harmony and movement (from the Bandcamp album Improvisations 1).

The Villa

Ben Stolk: electric guitar, FX.

Hans Tonino: laptop.

Ben Stolk (1957-2023) was a visual artist, active as a painter, sculptor and art teacher. Ben and Hans had been friends since around 1977. In 2009, they decided to form the duo ‘The Villa’, named after (the demolished) Villa Gusto in Scheveningen where Ben was once occupied with theatre together with his wife.

The Villa's music was based on improvisation: Ben played his guitar in many ways and added effects, and Hans used Ableton Live with loops and built-in synths. The style could be described as ‘noise’. Over time, the music became freer and more open. Sometimes it was applied as a soundtrack to an exhibition. The Bandcamp album ‘Old Plant’ (2023) is a good example of this. The exhibition ‘Industrial Landscapes’ would be his last major exhibition. These paintings are very beautiful depictions of, e.g. old, rusty factories in the Ruhr region of Germany as Ben observed them. We miss him dearly.

Zee (Sea), recorded in 2023, starts very quietly. Please use good equipment for a good sonic experience.

Live performance at an art exhibition in Schiedam.