Name: Vincent van Wijk
Main Subject: Classical Oboe
Research Coaches: Gerard Bouwhuis, Renee Jonker
Title of Research: The classical music concert experience
Research Question: What are the differences between the classical and pop performance
practice of today and which aspects of pop music can we incorporate into the classical
music concert performance practice?
Summary of Results:
It is a fact that classical concert venues are having a hard time filling their halls. In the
past decades, there has been an increasing criticism of the way classical music
performances are currently given. The image of classical music has resulted in audiences
finding it ‘dull’ and the classical concert experience perceived as ‘too stiff’. Has it always
been like this? In this research you will discover an answer as to why and how the
classical music concert experience has changed, why the range of people who have
access to (classical) music increased during the past few centuries and how we ended up
having multiple genres in the 20th century; including the ‘rise’ of pop music. We will take
a look at why this genre is becoming so popular and we will start to analyze the
differences between pop and classical music concerts. I created a questionnaire, which
was filled in by 58 performing musicians, both classical and pop. After analyzing the
answers, I had a clear overview of which aspects are typical pop music-esque and which
are typical classical music elements. Subsequently, I developed three different formats of
classical music concerts, I went to the shopping mall and played the same oboe solo piece
in three different formats: traditional classical concert, semi-traditional classical concert
and a more interactive concert. Throughout this experiment I recorded the number of
audience members for each separate type of concert, the results of which added another
element of interest. The presentation will include background information, the interesting
results of both the questionnaire and the shopping mall experiment (including movies)
and a conclusion regarding my point on view on this topic, which shall be shown via a
PowerPoint presentation.
Biography: Vincent van Wijk (1990) completed his Bachelor studies with Ali Groen and
Alexei Ogrintchouk cum laude in 2013. Now he is studying in the second year of the
Master at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague with Karel Schoofs and Alexei
Ogrintchouk. He followed numerous masterclasses with Maurice Bourgue, Stefan Schilli,
Hansjorg Schellenberger, Bart Schneemann and private lessons with Frank de Bruine,
Remco de Vries, Lucas Macias Navarro, Dominik Wollenweber in Berlin. Vincent often
plays in professional orchestras and ensembles such as the Rotterdam Philharmonisch
Orkest, Nederlands Kamer Orkest, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, Brussels
Philharmonic (principal oboe) and the Residentie Bach Orkest. Besides oboist, Vincent is
a frequently asked orchestra manager. He organises around 8 projects a year, throughout
the Netherlands.