Renee van Bavel

CEREMONY DUTCH VETERANS 2015

Commissioned by the Ministry of Defence and the Dutch National Veterans Committee, I wrote the script, lyrics and music of concertprogram “A Salute to the Veteran”.

“A Salute to the Veteran” is a concertprogram in which the Dutch veteran takes centre stage. (In the Netherlands, any soldier who has been sent on a military mission is called a veteran)

For inspiration for this project I did extensive research and spoke with many veterans of various military missions such as Lebanon, Indonesia, Second World War, Kosovo, Cambodia and the former Yugoslavia. I visited the Bronbeek Military Care Home, spoke with Military Spiritual Carers, with the Inspector General of the Armed Forces and with Knight Military Willemsorde Major Marco Kroon.

All these conversations inspired me to write the lyrics and the music of 11 songs and the script for the concertprogram.

In 2015 and 2016, accompanied by the Royal Army Orchestra “De Bereden Wapens” I performed the concert programme 25 times in different theater and concert halls in the Netherlands.

One of the highlight was a contribution to the National Tattoo in Ahoy Rotterdam.