Jesse van der Wel

What is your artistic training and background?

I studied Music theatre at ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem, where I’m trained as a musictheatremaker and a singer. As a maker I tend to be very visual and in more experimental territories, as a singer I am mainly trained for the pop- and music theatre genre, but I got to embrace more classical repertoire later on in my development.

What is you most memorable artistic experience?

This is like picking your favourite song, this is hárd!

Aside from our performances in the Paardenkathedraal right after the period of lockdown and huge insecurity, I would pick the time I was singing solo during my internship at the ‘Pauperparadijs’ music theatre production in Carré in Amsterdam. I was part of the ensemble then and I remember that it felt so surreal that this little mic thingie on my cheek was capturing my voice and was blasting it out in the huge hall with all these people within this huge production. That gave quite a kick.

Also singing together with Wende Snijders, who had always been an idol of me throughout my studies, while she was looking me straíght in the eye and was connecting with me in the moment, is still very memorable for me.

Immix Vocal Ensemble sprung out from NKK NXT, a traineeship organized by the Nederlands Kamerkoor where young singers explore what choir singing is about by creating and producing their own performance. Why did you want to be a part of this program?

I had composed for choir in my studies a couple of times and I found a lot of joy and potential there. For a long time I was walking around with this dream in my head of basing a performance on choir music and on what a choir can mean conceptually.

Also blending vocal improvisation with composed choir music had my interest. For all these ideas and wishes I saw a chance within the NKK-NXT program to make them reality and I couldn’t have been more happy with the process of working with that and with the result.

What is your superpower in Immix Vocal Ensemble?

To make every boring, stupid or less stimulating task fun. I truly believe that fun is one of strongest drives we can have.

Next to that my visual ideas, conceptual thinking and the ability to create structure in a making process.

And making fun insults on Sebastiaan that makes everyone laugh.