As various media have proclaimed him the virtuoso from the Bijlmer, Dwyel Braaf will perform a live-pianoconcert from the Bijlmer Parktheater. Dywel has been given permission from the department of Classical Music at the Zwolle Conservatory to play his concert closer to the people of Amsterdam South-East. Choosing this location for a stage is especially relevant considering Dywel was born and raised in the Bijlmer, where the culturally diverse public that he is channeling, lives.
“I noticed during auditions before attending the conservatory at ArtEZ that I was being profiled on account of my skincolour. People assumed that I was auditioning for jazz and looked bewildered when I told them I was there for the Clasical Music Department. A number of experiences have made me realize that as a black man one deals with sociaal-societal barriers that do not exist for white males.
When I was playing at the opening of The Black Achievement Month in Amsterdam I really started to feel at home. I stood before the audience and thought aloud: ‘I´m about to play classical music for an audience of black people’. Such a thing never happens, so everyone laughed. After playing I received a thunderous applause from my community, where I came from. Then I realized ‘this is what I want, this will be my performance practice: playing classical music for people who were not raised with that kind of music.’
Discrimination – not to mention the George Floyd-story – were always actual, but heretofore it was always shelved, or muted. Finally it is seen as relevant. People are starting to see that things need to be different.”
Dywel considers it an asset to cople his graduation concert with people who are barely familiar with classical music. Dwyel´s style encompasses an effortless admixture of Intimacy and depth with intensity and passion.
“As a classical pianist with Afro-Surinamese roots, Dywel considers it his mission to bring the art of piano-music to people with a non-Western background. The prejudice that classical music is boring, that is what Dywel would like to challenge with his own virtuoso style.”
On the 24th of june at 19:30 Dywel Braaf is graduating. Watch his live-concert:
