Orkest De Volharding

Orkest De Volharding is a Dutch ensemble founded in 1972 by Louis Andriessen and the saxophonist Willem Breuker, and named after Andriessen's piece De Volharding. Its first concert, on 12 May 1972, used three saxophones, three trumpets, three trombones and Andriessen on piano. It began as a street band with a political agenda, formed after the 1969 Nutcracker Action to take contemporary music out of the concert halls. The line-up later settled on saxophones, trumpets, trombones, flute, horn, piano and bass, and a conductor was added in the 1990s.