Paasbeste muziek

Salsa Sunday. Het is zo’n ingeburgerd begrip in Delft, dat je bijna zou vergeten erheen te gaan. Zoals sommige geboren en getogen Rotterdammers wel op de Burj Khalifa en Eiffeltoren hebben gestaan, maar nog nooit de Euromast hebben beklommen. Now is as good a time as any zeggen ze, maar de vroege lentezon is natuurlijk wel een heel mooie reden extra. Hijs je in Hawaï-shirt, bloemetjestop, zonnebril of slippers en waag je aan wat warme salsa-moves! Dj’s Franklin, Chuck, Carlos, Rojo, Bas en Pepez rouleren op de laatste zondagavonden van de maand, maar allemaal draaien ze de lekkerste salsa, merengue en bachata. Komende zondag is de beurt aan dj Rojo.

De Matthäus Passion, misschien wel het bekendste werk van Johann Sebastiaan Bach over het lijden en sterven van Jezus volgens het evangelie van Matthäus, is dan wel even van heel andere orde. Maar gelukkig heb je een klein weekje om van je zwoele dansfestijn te bekomen. Kamerkoor en -orkest Choir voert het volgende week vrijdag uit in de Maria van Jessekerk, onder leiding van Gilles Michels. Het tijdstip is geen toeval, want waarschijnlijk werd het stuk voor het eerst uitgevoerd op Goede Vrijdag 11 april 1727. Het slingert tussen emoties als frustratie, wanhoop, vreugde, hoop, medelijden en berouw. ‘Van alle tijden en herkenbaar voor iedereen’, denkt Choir.

Bach schreef het stuk voor twee orkesten en twee koren, maar Choir heeft ervoor gekozen om het in kleine bezetting uit te voeren. Laat die zon maar schijnen, de basis is gelegd.

Salsa Sunday, elke laatste zondag van de maand in Speakers van 20.30 tot 1.00 uur. Toegang: € 5,-. www.speakers.nl

Matthäus Passion door kamerkoor en –orkest Choir, op vrijdagavond 30 maart om 19.30 uur in de Maria van Jessekerk. Toegang: € 20,- voor studenten.

www.choirdelft.nl

Last week the Delft Best Engineering Competition (dBEC) set six student teams the task of using their technical knowledge, analytical skills and creativity to provide winning ideas for improving Japan’s precautions and preparedness for earthquakes and tsunamis.

Best, which was founded in 1989 and has local groups at some eighty universities worldwide, including TU Delft, organises various activities throughout the year, including courses, sporting events and engineering competitions, like this dBEC, which as particularly international in character, as the vast majority of competitors were international students from China, India, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Greece and elsewhere. 

A jury comprised of TU Delft professors was on hand to choose the top three teams based on their concepts and designs, which included ideas for erecting sea barriers, floating shelters and rescue centers, as well as smart phone apps for aiding people during disasters. The students were also asked to design an emergency plan for the first few days after a natural disaster, as well as a redevelopment plan for the areas hit hardest by last month’s tsunami. 

“I participated because I wanted to challenge myself, test my knowledge and skills and compete against other engineers,” says Rangan Dutta, from India, adding that “the most important thing for me was not to win but rather to find out what solutions me and my teammates could design when faced with time pressure and a highly competitive environment.” 

Winning this local competition also means an opportunity to travel and match wits against winning teams from other European universities. This year’s dBEC was won by the ‘Chapan’ team, whose team members – Spark Xie, Zhi Shuai, Ge Xiaoliang and Liu Pan – will now participate in the Benelux Best Engineering Competition (beBEC), in Durbuy, Belgium, later this month, where they’ll compete against winning teams from the universities of Brussels, Liège, Louvain-la-Neuve, Ghent and Leuven. The beBEC’s winner will then go on to compete in the European Best Engineering Competition (EBEC), held in Istanbul this August, against the winners of all other regional contests. 

Evgenios Kornaropoulos, a TU student from Greece, regrets that his team didn’t prepare sufficiently for the Delft contest. “All teams received information about the competition’s topic one day before, and some teams were smart and did some research in advance, which gave them more time to focus on the design itself during the competition,” he says, adding that he plans to participate again next year. “It’s very challenging and lots of fun, and I hope more students will compete in the dBEC next year, because the more participants, the more exciting the competition becomes.” 

If you’re interested in joining the next Delft Best Engineering Competition or any other Best activity, check the website and apply online.
www.bestdelft.com
www.best.eu.org