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PROFILE COMPOSING IS A COMPULSION FOR FREESTYLE MASTER JOOST PETERS Give this Dutchman a piano, a video and just a few weeks time, and he’ll dream up a dressage test the world will watch for years to come. C omposing soundtracks for the world’s top Grand Prix freestyles is a niche within a niche—a career that barely exists outside of the one individual performing it. But six years ago that job chose Joost Peters, and there’s no escaping its clutches now. 22 AP R I L / MAY 2011 TH E CH RON ICLE C ON N ECTION The musician and composer from Hooge Mierde, the Netherlands, was the magic behind the dance of Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas when they won the gold at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (Ky.) in October, a freestyle which the whole world watched. But just a decade ago, Peters didn’t even know what a freestyle was. ARND BRONKHORST PHOTO By TANIA EVANS Dutch composer Joost Peters is the mastermind behind many of the world’s top Grand Prix freestyles. profile “There’s also a lot of interest from Asia,” Peters said. “It’s a shame I can only do about 12 kurs a year! “And of course I’ve made music for a lot of Dutch riders like Imke Schellekens-Bartels, Hans Peter Minderhoud, Edward Gal and Mischa Koot,” Peters added. “And Mischa also became my wife! We have two kids now, Nina and Sebastiaan.” Like It Was magic VIDeO: watch the freestyle that made Joost Peters famous, “the Queen kur,” performed by Laurens Van Lieren and hexagons ollright at the 2008 feI world Cup final in ’s-hertogenbosch, the netherlands. “I was running a recording studio together with a friend who was training horses,” said Peters, 40. “Since recording bands wasn’t a big business at the time—this was the time when home recording studios became affordable for the common people—my friend suggested I make a freestyle for a client of his. “Since then, things evolved fast,” Peters continued. “I did a lot of young rider kurs, pony and junior level kurs. Since they were pretty successful, the senior riders became interested.” Incidentally, the small town of Hooge Mierde plays host to the annual Global Dressage Forum, and Dutch superstar Imke Schellekens-Bartels is based there. So Peters didn’t have to look far beyond his own front yard for inspiration. His international breakthrough at Grand Prix came in 2005 with “The Queen Kur,” set to Queen’s rock anthems, for Dutch stars Laurens van Lieren and Hexagon’s Ollright. Six years later, Peters has now worked with riders in Brazil, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Indonesia and Denmark. He’s helped U.S. riders like Lindsey AndersonO’Keefe, and this year he’ll be producing new freestyles for Canadian Grand Prix riders Belinda Trussell and Ashley Holzer. 24 AP R I L / MAY 2011 Th e ch ron icle c on n ecTion Peters didn’t just emerge from nowhere bursting with natural talent—he started in music as a child. “I played all sorts of musical instruments, beginning when I was 4,” he said. “I liked the bass guitar the best. Today I write words and music for many instruments, chamber groups and orchestras.” He’s also sold more than 140,000 DVDs of his upbeat, multi-themed compositions for children, in many of which he also sings, and licenses most of them through the Playama Company, which works with multimedia entities such as Disney and Efteling. For mainstream adult audiences, he performs, collaborates, records, backtracks for live performances and more. “When my success as a composer and producer increased, I decided to stop doing the intensive live gigs and concentrated on the studio work,” Peters said. “I do still play in a band, but not to make a living anymore. Just for fun!” When it comes to starting a freestyle, his creative method is unique. Peters’ process starts the moment he first sees the horse. “While I’m behind the piano, the ideas flow out of my head like it was magic,” he said. “I don’t know where it is coming from. And since I always compose while I look at the video of a horse, the music sort of automatically fits with the horse. Of course, I’ve learned a lot in the past 10 years, but I was lucky to learn quickly what worked and what didn’t work in a freestyle. And I am very happy that the judges as well as the audiences like it.” Peters said it usually takes about four weeks to produce a freestyle. Once the music is written, he records a sample bass/synthesizer version so the rider can test its fit to every footfall. Once he’s sure the music fits the horse 100 percent, Peters goes to a bigger studio to record live instruments—drums, guitars and brass sections, and depending on the budget, a string section. For the “Artemis In Motion Freestyle,” produced with Elton John in 2008 for Richard Davison and Hiscox Artemis of Great Britain, he had the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra available. “There were 70 musicians doing a one-take recording, unique in the history of musical freestyles,” Peters said. “Also it was the first kur not to be recorded in a recording studio but in a real concert hall. It was a great experience—one most composers only can dream of.” At the premiere of the freestyle at the Olympia Horse Show in London, Peters had the privilege of sitting between Prince Edward and Sir Tim Rice to watch Artemis perform the test for the first time. “I can tell you it was one of the most nervewracking experiences of my life, but also a very special one,” he said. A Labor of Love thIs PAge: VIdeo CouRtesY of Joost PeteRs Peters couldn’t be at the WEG last fall to see his creations (in addition to Gal and Totilas’, he also produced Schellekens-Bartels’ freestyle with Sunrise) on display—he was finishing two other freestyles and couldn’t spare the time out of the country. But he watched them on TV. “That’s also a weird experience, to see your kur being performed at the other side of the globe,” he said. “The only thing I could do was keep my fingers crossed. It was a thrilling experience.” While he wishes he could always be there in person to watch his labors of love in all their glory, Peters said making the leap to riding or competing has never been a dream of his. “Instead I’ve bought an old-timer Porsche 911, which I park in a garage when I don’t find the time to drive it,” he joked. “The good thing is that I can concentrate on what will be seen and heard by the judges and audience,” he continued. “I never sit behind the piano watching a video of a freestyle and think, ‘I wish I was on that horse.’ I just think, ‘How do I get this horse to look even more fantastic? How do I get the judges to have goosebumps, and how do I get the audience standing on their seats?’ Those are my goals. And if it works out right, the rider is happy, the judge is happy, the audience is happy… and then I’m happy.” HIS NEWEST CREATION VIDeO: Check out behind-thescenes footage of Joost Peters’ latest recording session with the royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra in march. Joost Peters’ latest big project was commissioned by one of Britain’s foremost owners, the Countess of Derby, for her Grand Prix pair, richard Davison and hiscox Artemis. Peters composed the freestyle in partnership with rock singer robbie Williams and songwriter Guy Chambers, who’s composed for the likes of tina turner, Kylie minogue and Katie melua. they recorded it with the royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra on march 1. “it was a very big project with over 100 people working on it,” Peters said. “it is quite exciting standing in front of a big world renowned symphonic orchestra as it starts to play your music!” Davison and Artemis debuted the new freestyle at the end of march in ‘s-hertogenbosch, the netherlands, at the last Western european League qualifier for the reem Acra fei World Cup final. they placed seventh on 70.97 percent and earned a spot at the final in Leipzig, Germany, in late APriL/mAy. “the olympic gold medalist [Anky van Grunsven], when she heard this music yesterday in holland, came up to say she’s actually sick with jealousy that i got this one,” Davison told the BBC in an interview afterward. “So i know how lucky i am!”