“… Just like Ustvolskya Henneman asks a fearless attitude from the listener. One who listens attentively will be rewarded with sharp, uncommon colored music.”
–Mischa Andriessen, Trouw

Ig Henneman was born in Haarlem the Netherlands on December 21, 1945. She is a composer/performer improviser on viola in the international world of creative music. Henneman is a musician of striking individuality. She toured extensively over the world and received abundant praise for the musicianship as well as the innovative compositions.

Since the nineties the music of the Russian composers Galina Ustvolskaya en Sofia Gubaidulina has been an inspiration for Henneman, who is attracted by the extremes of the former’s structural severity and the latter’s improvisational freedom, also to be found in the work of the Hungarian composer György Kurtág. However, her influences are wide ranging and include jazz heroes like Thelonious Monk, Albert Ayler, Misha Mengelberg, and pop music as well.

According to American critic Ed Hazell “… an artist incapable of remaining satisfied with any music that lies strictly within the boundaries of any one style. (…) it’s a beautiful, functioning musical world all it’s own that Henneman developed organically out of poetry, jazz, classical, improvised music—and birdsong. (…) Not that she doesn’t have chops, but she seems determined to subvert classical notions of instrumental prowess in favor of a deliberately simple approach with more emphasis on timbre and more directly expressive (perhaps this is a legacy of her rock experience?) (…) Here the deliberately awkward rhythms, the dry textures and subdued colors of her playing, the concentration of thought and her ability to pare down to essentials take on an intense vulnerability and humanity. (…) It is sound discovered and organized with no preconceived notions and it is both incredibly touching and intellectually thrilling at the same time.”

 “… There are a number of great viola players currently around, however Ig Henneman remains one of the best. She is in especially fine form here, weaving her lines amongst the two spirited reeds and the organic, distinctive drumming.”
— Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG (NY)

“… In this way Henneman developed a complete own language that shines with purity and authenticity.”
–Tim Sprangers, JazzInternationalRotterdam

www.stichtingwig.com