Those who know the Brit from the theatre know that he always delivers cheerful, personal stories and a wide range of music, from (light) classical to jazz and pop. “For instance, I wrote a song, a spoken, My Fair Lady-style number, centered on the question: why can’t I become a ‘full-blown Dutchie’, never quite a real Dutchman. Although I can proudly say that I now hold a Dutch passport, so you can’t send me away anymore! The stories I tell are the building blocks of my life, translated into music. This time, however, I’m not bringing an orchestra with me, but a fantastic band. That too is a return to basics: my musical career started in a jazz quartet called Four Wheel Drive. So there’s a drummer, a pianist and a woodwind player — and of course I play the bass. I wanted to challenge myself musically a bit more and see whether I can blend all my musical loves together.”
Dominic Seldis: “The double bass fits me like a jacket”
The idea was to create an intimate performance, says Dominic Seldis (54), best known as a jury member on Maestro, the television programme in which well-known Dutch personalities try their hand at conducting a full orchestra. Taking Back to Bass-ics to the stage feels exciting to him: “I wrote this show myself and I’m producing it myself as well. It’s slightly outside my comfort zone, although I’m not suddenly taking a completely new direction.”
A real Dutchman
A tear-jerking song
“You know what else I discovered?” Seldis says enthusiastically. “I was Googling and came across a folk song from the region in England where I’m from: Suffolk. You’ll never guess the title… The Suffolk Miracle Holland Handkerchief. It’s a classic tear-jerker about a forbidden love between a farmer’s daughter and a young man who works on his land. Her father considers him beneath her. After a gruelling journey, the farmhand falls ill and the daughter tries to cool his fevered forehead with her Dutch handkerchief, which I assume means it’s made of lace. I’ve written my own music for it and we’ll be performing it with the band. But there’s also a Verdi sing-along in Back to Bass-ics, where everyone is very welcome to join in.”
Wide range of musical genres
Dominic Seldis wants his new show to have a nightclub feel, even though classical music is never far away. He is proud of the way he can present the opening of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in a wide range of musical genres, from Bach to Elton John and from Einaudi to tango. “What I want to show the audience is that you can do anything with music. If you have a strong melody, it works anywhere, even in Disney or palingpop from Volendam, which I’m also a fan of. Those few notes by Beethoven are universal.” Back to Bass-ics also features plenty of humorous stories which, as in his previous shows, are drawn from his own life. With a smile, he adds: “An autobiography about my life, DOMINIC, will be published in February. The stories were written down by my wife, Floor. But there are certainly plenty of stories and anecdotes that didn’t make it into the book, so I’ll be sharing some of those. Like the time I performed in Tokyo with the Three Tenors: Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras. When I went to the toilet during the interval, I suddenly noticed there were an awful lot of men standing around my neighbour. How did that end? Well, you’ll have to come and see the show to find out, haha.”
Music as a family passion
That Seldis would end up in music and turn it into a passionate profession was by no means a given. His mother did not play an instrument, and his father taught himself to play the piano. “He played it safe and stuck to the white keys only. But they both had an enormous interest in and love for music, and that’s how they passed it on to all three of their sons. My younger brother sang in the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, an extraordinary choir, and my older brother was a very talented violinist. He simply decided that he wanted to earn a living from his work and is now the proud owner of several pubs in Suffolk, where we’re from.” Dryly, he adds: “I couldn’t do anything else, so I did become a musician. But where other families were heavily into sport, we went to concerts a lot. From The Drifters to the Berlin Philharmonic. I recently found ticket stubs from two concerts my parents took us to in the 1980s: Stevie Wonder and Simon & Garfunkel. I’m incredibly grateful that they took us everywhere — and I’m continuing that tradition with my daughters, and soon with my four-year-old son.”
Moving people
Seldis, too, began as a violinist, but around the age of fourteen he was handed a double bass. By then, he was already at boarding school — Chetham’s School of Music, a specialist school for musically gifted children. He had gone there at the age of eight, when his eldest brother, then eleven, enrolled. “I found it special to be among so many young people who were just as obsessed with music, and to learn from specialised musicians. So when the director of music told me I would have to leave the school unless I tried the bass, it was a no-brainer for me. I wanted to stay. And that bass… it fitted me like a jacket that sits perfectly on your body. It feels like a second skin. I have rounded shoulders that curl around the double bass. I’m a bit on the chubby side, so it rests on my belly. When I play, the instrument supports me — literally and figuratively.”
“I’ve been lucky to find my purpose in life: I’m on this planet to make music. I truly believe that. When I’m playing, no one can touch me. There are no screens to distract me, no conversations, just sound. After my father passed away, for example, I was back on stage quite quickly; making music became an outlet. And through my music, I hope to move other people, whether or not they’re in the same boat. Ultimately, that’s what I want audiences to take away from Back to Bass-ics: that there is an incredible amount of beautiful music, in every genre. That’s what I want to share, together with my fantastic band. And I do my very best to be as charming as possible, so I hope people will have laughed. I’m aiming for a hundred per cent smile guarantee!”
On Friday 6 March, Dominic Seldis will bring his show Back to Bass-ics to Muziekgebouw Eindhoven. After the performance, he will be selling and signing his book DOMINIC in the foyers.
Written by Rinske Wels