US elections are coming. In “Music & The White House”, America expert Willem Post and jazz musician Michael Varekamp lay the course of the history of American democracy alongside that of music. In doing so, they give politics a soundtrack and music a pamphlet. A unique concert in which they provide the run-up to the American elections with political and jazz music commentary.
On November 5, 2024, America will again elect a new president. The stakes are high. In the midst of an unprecedented polarization, President Biden has even made the survival of democracy a stake in the election. He speaks of an all-decisive battle "for the soul of the nation”. The current discontent has roots in American history.
Willem Post is an evocative storyteller and will use short, unusual stories to illuminate the battle points then and now. Multi-talented Michael Varekamp lets the music speak. Music that connects people but also exposes them. Travel with Post and Varekamp through history to eventually end up in the actuality of 2024.
Willem Post was named the No. 1 America expert in the Dutch media by the Volkskrant in 2020. His affiliations include the Clingendael Institute and the Public Diplomacy Council in Washington D.C. Post. He published 16 books on the United States including most recently his 'The Soul of America. Democracy on Drift.' His analyses and opinions appear in Dutch and Belgian newspapers. He also regularly comments in television and radio programs such as Nieuwsweekend, Goedemorgen Nederland and Tijd voor Max. In the latter program, he met Michael Varekamp.
Michael Varekamp has been giving concerts, workshops and master classes all over the world for thirty years and has worked with Dutch Swing College Band, Branford Marsalis and Miles Davis alumnus Sonny Fortune, among others. He has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center New York, received the Kobe Award in Japan and won a Golden Calf with the film Shabu for which he composed the music. At the request of Willem Post and the White House Watchers, he composed the unique Obama suite on the occasion of the president's arrival in the Netherlands in 2010. The French newspaper Le Monde gave Michael four stars and wrote, "Michael Varekamp has an astonishing sound and beautiful phrasing to the honor and glory of jazz.”
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SG & USE/ITEC registration
Please register for SG & USE/ITEC by scanning your student ID at the venue prior to the start of the program.
More information about SG & USE/ITEC can be found here.