Michel van der Aa
b. 1970
Snapshot
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Michel van der Aa is one of the most outstanding Dutch composers of his generation * has attracted attention above all for his imaginative music theatre works * music has expressive power and an idiomatic sense for the stage, combining sounds and scenic images in a play of changing perspectives * recent stage works show a successful involvement as a film and stage director as well as composer * after training as music recording engineer at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, studied composition with Diderik Wagenaar, Gilius van Bergeijk and Louis Andriessen * turned from constructivism of the ‘Hague school’ to a personal, more poetic and transparent style * completed a course in film directing at the New York Film Academy, and collaborated with film makers Peter Greenaway and Hal Hartley, and with choreographers including Philippe Blanchard * participated in the Lincoln Center Theater Director’s Lab, an intensive course in stage direction, in 2007 * is programmed at leading international festivals for contemporary music in London, Huddersfield, Berlin, Donaueschingen, Paris, Warsaw, Los Angeles, Lucerne, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Brussels, Venice, Oslo, Budapest, Moscow, Zagreb and Perth * works played by renowned artists including conductors Peter Eötvös, Reinbert de Leeuw, Etienne Siebens, Ed Spanjaard, Roland Kluttig and ensembles like the Schönberg and Asko Ensemble, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Hilversum Radio Philharmonic, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Avanti!, musikFabrik and the Netherlands Opera * awarded the prestigious International Gaudeamus Prize 1999, the Vermeulen Prize 2004 (for his chamber opera One), a Grant by the Siemens Foundation and the Charlotte Köhler Prize (for his directing work and the interdisciplinary character of his oeuvre) in 2005, and the Paul Hindemith Prize 2006 * recordings on the Col Legno, Harmonia Mundi, Composer’s Voice, BVHaast, X-OR and VPRO Eigenwijs labels
Works by Michel van der Aa include:
Here Trilogy (2001–03) for soprano, chamber orchestra and soundtrack
Second Self (2004) for orchestra and soundtrack
Imprint (2005) for Baroque orchestra (or small orchestra)
After Life (2005–06) Opera
Looking Ahead: operatic masterwork After Life back on stage in Amsterdam (Sep 09) and Lyon (Mar 2010); premieres of Book of Disquiet with Klaus Maria Brandauer at Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Staatstheater Saarbrücken (Oct 09)
"Van der Aa, stage director and mastermind as well as composer, pushes the boundaries of all of his media. This is the Gesamtkunst of the future." – Financial Times
Also visit the Michel van der Aa website at www.doublea.net
Also visit the Michel van der Aa website at www.doublea.net
