Our university is filled with many talented musicians. But what is it like to play in an orchestra at the UvA? Is it a tight-knit community that we so often try to find in our university? We spoke to Merel Rommers, cellist in the CREA-orchestra at the UvA.

The orchestra is linked to our cultural hub at CREA. While Rommers is a UvA student, she also told us that “the orchestra-world is a small one.” She goes on: “when I started studying a lot of people I knew from a different orchestra were already playing in the CREA one.” The choice to join the orchestra was not deliberate, she kind of “rolled into it” as “it is logical to go to CREA when you are a UvA student.”

So what is actually like to play in an orchestra? Is this where UvA communities are built? Not really, according to Rommers: “I do not connect CREA to the UvA. I don’t think it is a UvA orchestra.” While UvA students still play in it, Rommers explained that she mainly met people who were already finished with their studies. Not as much a UvA-community as one might think, but “while you can always join CREA, it is a student-orchestra, so for the most part it consists of students”, explained Rommers. So, while not a UvA community, a student-community definitely exists. Most importantly, the world of orchestra’s feels like “a family almost”, which is so much more than just a UvA-community.

The orchestra does not play in CREA, as “it would simply not fit”, but if you are interested in classical music, they will play on the fifth of February at 20:00 in the Dominicuskerk in Amsterdam.