Kees Otten 1924 - 2008

[gov...@planet.nl]

Last Thursday September 25 Kees Otten has passed away in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Kees was not only the man who gave the first big push to the emancipation of the recorder in Holland, he also stood at the cradle of what is now named Historically Informed Performance practice. He was founder member of quite a few ensembles, of which the most successful one was Syntagma Musicum, a group specializing in repertoire from the early Middle Ages until early Baroque. At least a dozen of records were made with Syntagma, many of them received awards. Tours were made to The United States, Australia and New Zealand, Japan and almost all European countries. Many people will remember the unique atmosphere Kees created during his concerts, by adding short witty comments in a deadpan manner. He was a welcome guest during countless Early Music summer courses and workshops. Not many people know that as a young musician he was at least as much busy with jazz music as with the earlier stuff. When Big Bill Broonzy visited Amsterdam somewhere in the late forties Kees was invited to join him in a few public jam sessions (on the recorder!), while in that same period he did appear with the young Julian Bream playing music of some 5 centuries earlier. Apart from his wide range of musical preferences Kees was an avid reader and collector of literature, and he knew a great number of Dutch poems by heart.
Kees Otten has been laid to rest in his beloved Amsterdam. We will miss him dearly.

Pieter van Houwelingen