Arjan Breukhoven op het orgel in Katwijk

Karel Jan (Arjan) Breukhoven (

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, 18 May 1962) is a Dutch musician.

Education

Breukhoven started his musical training with Jan Brandwijk. He later studied principal professional organ and church music at the Royal Academy in the Hague with Wim van Beek and Bert Matter. He studied

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

with Albert Brussee, and also singing, improvisation and

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

direction. In this academy time he also got lessons from the French organist and

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

Gaston Litaize Gaston Gilbert Litaize (11 August 1909 - 5 August 1991) was a French organist and composer. Considered one of the 20th century masters of the French organ, he toured, recorded, worked at churches, and taught students in and around Paris. Blind ...

. He also attended choir and orchestra direction with professor Kurt Thomasstichting.

Performances

Breukhoven acts as a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, organist, soloist, as well as accompanying musician for soloists and choirs. He also works as a conductor. He has collaborated with a lot of other musicians like Ernst-Daniël Smid,

Vicki Brown Vicki Brown (23 August 1940 – 16 June 1991) was an English pop, rock and contemporary classical singer. She was a member of both The Vernons Girls and The Breakaways and was the first wife of fellow singer and musician Joe Brown and mother o ...

, Berdien Stenberg, Marco Bakker, Ben Cramer, Kamahl, Henk Poort, Marjolein Keuning, Margriet Eshuijs and Cor Bakker. He played with Louis van Dijk and Daniël Wayenberg, among others. In 2007 he celebrated his 25th year's jubilee as a musician by concerts with

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

Ernst-Daniël Smid and two concerts in Bruges' Church of Our Lady and Ghent's Saint Bavo and moreover with an organ concert on Garrels-orgel in the Great Church of

Maassluis Maassluis () is a city in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of in and covered of which was water. It received city rights in 1811. History Maassluis was founded circa 1340 as a se ...

. The largest organ which he ever played was a 127-voice organ at Saint Patrick' s

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

in the Australian city of

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

Activities

Breukhoven regularly gives concerts in the Netherlands, elsewhere on the continent and in Australia. He appeared on the EO programme "Nederland zingt" and is a regular guest on their radio programmes. He conducts three male choirs: *The Christian men's choir "Prince Alexander" in Rotterdam (over 80 members). *The Dutch Christian men's choir in

Berkel en Rodenrijs 270px, Town sign Berkel en Rodenrijs () is a town and former municipality in the municipality of Lansingerland, in the province of South Holland, The Netherlands. The town is very close to ROTTERDAM History Berkel en Rodenrijs was founded in t ...

(over 130 members). *Randstedelijk men's Choir from

Spijkenisse Spijkenisse () is a city in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Following an administrative reform in 2015, it is part of the municipality of Nissewaard, and has a population of 72,500. It covers an area of of which is water. It is part ...

(over 100 members). As a pianist and an organist he has developed his own style of improvisation, both in classic and in light recent development. He composes for choir, organs and other instruments. He is the organist of the reformed church of Berkel and Rodenrijs. He is frequently requested as organist at funeral ceremonies in the Netherlands.

Awards

Arjan Breukhoven received the silver honours in 2008 from the main board for church stewardship in the

Protestant Church in the Netherlands The Protestant Church in the Netherlands ( nl, de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestant denomination in the Netherlands, being both Calvinist and Lutheran. It was founded on 1 May 2004 as the merger of the ...

for working as an organist in that church for more than 25 years.

Selected discography

He collaborated on more than 150 CD and DVD-records. A selection is shown below:

External links

Website of Arjan Breukhoven
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breukhoven, Arjan 1962 births Living people Dutch composers Dutch organists Male organists Dutch pianists Musicians from Rotterdam 21st-century pianists 21st-century organists 21st-century male musicians