Kika Sprangers

Exclusive world premiere of North Sea Jazz Composition Project 2025

Each year, the North Sea Jazz Festival commissions a new composition from a leading Dutch jazz talent. In 2025, that honour goes to saxophonist and composer Kika Sprangers. Ahead of the festival debut, Sprangers will present the exclusive world premiere of The Way Wild Rivers Flow at LantarenVenster on 10 July, in collaboration with North Sea Round Town and the Nederlands Kamerkoor.

Sprangers has created an ambitious new work for mixed choir and ensemble—merging lyricism, improvisation and collective strength. Her fascination with human emotion and the melodic power of the saxophone shines through in this composition, where harmonic shifts, rhythmic motifs and melodic lines breathe life into a cohesive narrative.

The performance features a 12-voice choir from the Nederlands Kamerkoor alongside a band of top musicians: Alistair Payne (trumpet), Reinier Baas (guitar), Tijs Klaassen (double bass), Jonas Burgwinkel (drums), and Sprangers herself on saxophone. Inspired by composers like Avishai Cohen and Maria Schneider, Sprangers blurs the boundaries between structure and freedom, always writing in close connection with her instrument.

📍 Where: LantarenVenster, Rotterdam
📅 When: Thursday 10 July 2025
🕢 Time: 20:30
🎟️ Tickets: €20,00 (incl. €3,00 service fee)
💺 Seated concert, free seating