Jeff Hamburg, born in 1956 in Philadelphia, is a successful composer based in the Netherlands since 1978. His compositions range from chamber music, vocal, and orchestral to opera and music theatre. Performances of his music in recent years include premieres in the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam to BBC recordings to commissions for Australian Orchestras. Composed in 2018, Songs Along the Way is scored for Mezzo-soprano, clarinet, violin, viola, cello and harp and is performed here by Helena van Heel and The New European Ensemble. The New European Ensemble was founded in 2009 in the Netherlands by dedicated and passionate musicians from across Europe. The ensemble has built a reputation for imaginative programming as well as fantastic (NRC) and excellent performances (de Volkskrant) and has been called one of the Netherlands leading ensembles (Nieuwe Noten). The Swedish-Dutch mezzo-soprano Helena van Heel has a wide-ranging repertoire from Baroque to contemporary music. She has sung with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and the Residentie Orkest The Hague. Mysticism in the broadest sense of the word has fascinated Jeff Hamburg his entire life. Many of his compositions are about the mysterious underpinnings of creation and existence as well as the sense of connection between man and nature. It is therefore no surprise that Hamburg has also made a serious study of hypnosis and trance, becoming a certified hypnotherapist along the way. His more recent compositions reflect this journey, being either meditative or exploring electronic trance-invoking music.
