
“I feel blessed and humble with ears, eyes, and all my other senses to observe the world and serve humanity, making it a better place. As a musician, poet, and artist, I inherited these talents from my parents and ancestors, allowing me to enrich people with contemporary art forms.”
Joke Kegel, or Jo was born September the 10th in 1960 in Amsterdam, studied piano from six years old with Nora Rijkers, (born 1929) and started from her 15th seriously as an artist in painting, in the class of the artist Rinus Duin (1918-1996) ) drawing and photographing portrets and abstract works.
After studying at different Art-Academies and the Actorsstudio in Amsterdam, playing in different theatre-productions, with directors as Nouchka van Brakel, Maureen Birney and George Isherwood, she studied for 10 years with the Musicologist Edgard Vreuls, didactics, piano, history of music and did all her States Exames in the Netherlands. From 2001-2007 she studied composition at the department ‘Contemporay Music through Non Western Techniques CMtNWT’ at the Conservatory in Amsterdam. She sang soprano for years in the Choir of New Music, with the conductor Huub Kerstens. For 15 years Jo was conductor of the Eilanden Choir, based in Amsterdam and guest conductor of many other choirs. She sang soprano in the Anglican choir with the conductor Martin Bleek for one year in 2023/2024.
Jo is qualified to teach lessons for piano, composition, analysis and music history, for children as well as adults, beginners and advanced students. She loves to teach singing as well as giving a course in rhythm. She is a teacher for more then 20 years in her studio in Amsterdam and nowadays also in and around Baambrugge. Check and click on her Studio Jokegel for more details.
Between 1990-1995 she worked as guest lecturer at the Leidse Hoge School in cooperation with Dick Bloem, lecturer at the department of healthcare Conflict Management training. Within that period she also was a permanent employee of the Boddaert Centre in Amsterdam and set up childcare for mothers who wanted to master the Dutch language.
She writes contemporary compositions for solos, duos, large and small ensembles. Instrumental and multimedia events, as well as theater and film. Over the years she has organized many concerts with her own compositions and works by other composers. Some of her works are published by Donemus. More details : Joke Kegel’s CV Link
Jo as music director of her several projects:
Alternative Faces Multi media production.
Incorporea featuring dance, live music, visual arts and video.
Bare feet, ‘Breath and bare Hands for live bass clarinet solo and video.
Van een leien dak with the recording ensemble work:
Who is counting on a pure symmetric triad within a perfect fourth? 2004, for Flute, Sopranosaxophone, Trumpet, Bass-clarinet, Bassoon, Vibraphone and Timpani, all tuned in the 24 tone-system and a slide show with visual art made by Gerbrig Seidel.
In 2023 Jo was interviewed as one of the first year’s pupils of the high school for the documentary The Kids of the OSB to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bijlmermeer Open School Community, but also to convey the great ideas of the founders to the new generation. The documentary has been shown internally at the OSB School.
Jo loves to work with dancers and participate also in the Body Body Body classes of Katie Duck. They are aimed for performance artists, singers, dancers, actors and musicians who have interest to do multidisciplinary compositions for performances.
Coming soon…
- 26 April, 2-3 pm, we’ll give a concert with Duo Kurkuma.
Pianist Ere Lievonen & soprano Joke Kegel.
In the church Postwijck, Rijksstraatweg 29 in Baambrugge. (There is a busstop line 120)We want to thank all the people for their generosity who gave a donation on Voordekunst.nl for my reedquintet composing recording, to cover half of my budget for our musicians, the soundingeneer Andrea Friggi and the recording studios of Humprey Saalberg Nash-Music-service.
April 4th 2025 recordingday with the Dianto Reedquintet in the Schuilkerk de Hoop with the sound-ingeneer Andrea Friggi. My publisher Donemus will help with the digital distribution. Thanks to the Amarte Funds, we have also a payment for two reheasals of the Dianto reedquintet.
Dianto Reedquintet, Schuilkerk de Hoop. Duo Kurkuma Postwijck Baambrugge, 2-3pm, April 26, 2025.
Recordingday April 4rth, 2025.5 tracks of the cd and the streaming by Donemus later in April:
1-Thank you for everything, I have no complaints whatsoever. Diantoreedquintet.
2-Imagine we are sea weeds. Duo Kurkuma, piano and soprano.
3-We grow accustomed to the Dark. Duo Kurkuma, piano and soprano.
4-Flow and Glow. Duo Kurkuma, piano and soprano.
5- Whispers of my secret Garden. Duo Kurkuma, organ and soprano.- 2024/2025 Jo will be part of the team in the short movie TUTOR and playing the role of grandmother. The Tutor will be compete in the biggest film festivals in the UK. The producers of TUTOR will make us of a track of my reedquintet.
- New choir music with five poems of Michel Cand from his three bundles: ‘Psoriasis l’éternité’ These poems will be sang in 2026 by the Women Choir L’EF, conducted by Ellen Verburgt.
- New works are published on the website of Donemus for flute – and reed quintet as well as a stringquartet for ensembles in and outside Europe. The title of the series is: Thank you for everything, I have no complaints whatsoever.
The solo work ‘Inventions for bassoon‘ will be performed by the musicologist and bassoonist Johnny Reinhard at his online Microtonal University and the work is also available online at my publisher Donemus.
Recently…
New music ‘Thank you for everything, I have no complaints whatsoever’ for sale at Donemus for flutequintet, reedquintet, stringquartet and the Rodiontrio.
- Vibrant Sky was sung by the Women ensemble L’EF, from Noordkop, North of Holland. The concert, conducted by Ellen Verburgt is premiered in Julianadorp, Ontmoetingskerk, Juni 2, 2024 and the second concert in a slightly new version was september 1, 2024, at Texel in Den Burg.
- June 17th 2023. Day of the Composer. Concert in the Ramses Shaffy huis with the composers: Jochem le Cointre, Heleen Verleur, Anders Jallén, Sinta Wullur, Rieteke Hölscher. Organized together with www.newmusicnow.
Joke Kegel is inspired by the rhythmic and melodic Carnatic music from south India and studied with great musicians as Manjunath BC, Dr, Manjunath Mysore and Dr. Suma Sudhindra. - IRC International Rhythm Course in India 9-17 January -2023. Worked with Dr. Suma Sudhindra, Dr. Mysore Manjunath, BC Manjunath & Ned McGowan. Played in four concerts during study in Bangalore and the Ashram Muddenhalli with other professional musicians from over the whole world. See photos in the CV Link.
‘Who is counting on a pure symmetric triad within a perfect fourth?’ is written for Ensemble Scala: Flute, Bass-clarinet, Viola, Electric Guitar, Carrillo piano, Fokker Organ and percussion with two cymbals, all tuned in the 31-tone system. Premièred december 11th in 2022, in the small hall of the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam, in the program ‘Distorted Reality’, organized by the Fokker Huygens Foundation. Live recording of the première: Mp3 recording Personal research: How perfect is a quarter interval in a 24-tone system compared to a 31-tone system? What are the similarities and differences in the arrangement for Ensemble Scala in 2022 compared to the older work from 2004?
November 4rth 2022 was the worldpremière ‘Innenraum‘ (W.P. live recording) for bass clarinet by Albrecht Schwarnweber and alto flute by Letizi Turini, musicians of the El Perro Andaluz Ensemble for the Xenakis project Revierwechsel II, Neue Musik und Bildende Kunst, 2022 in Leipzig, Germany. Eine Kooperation vom Musik Projekt Sachsen e.V und hochdruckpartner / Galerie+Werkstatt. See also my painting and poem ‘Innenraum‘ at the links-page. flyer.
- On July 21, 2021, the world premiere was held in London of ‘Flow water’ for soprano, piano and stonework, an arrangement of the choral work ‘Stroomt water’ which was awarded the first prize by the IKF05. 2022 rewritten for Duo Kurkuma: Flow and Glow.
New music of Duo Kurkuma:
Flow and Glow
Soprano & piano and stonepercussion, composed by Joke Kegel
Imagine we are sea weeds
Soprano & piano, poetry and composition by Joke Kegel.
Different Perspectives
Soprano & Piano. Composed by Joke Kegel.
Poetry Love After Love by Derek Walcott.
We grow accustomed to the Dark’
Soprano & piano. Composed by Joke Kegel. Poetry Emily Dickinson.
This work is also availabe as a solo for piano and will be published at Donemus.
Im Nebel
Soprano & piano. Composed by Ere Lievonen. Poetry by Hermann Hesse.
Whispers of my secret Garden
Soprano and organ. Composed by Joke Kegel. Poetry Joke Kegel.
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