Michel van der Aa (; born 10 March 1970) is a Dutch

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

Early years

Michel van der Aa was born 10 March 1970 in

Oss OSS or Oss may refer to: Places * Oss, a city and municipality in the Netherlands * Osh Airport, IATA code OSS People with the name * Oss (surname), a surname Arts and entertainment * ''O.S.S.'' (film), a 1946 World War II spy film about ...

. He trained as a recording engineer at the

Royal Conservatory of The Hague The Royal Conservatoire ( nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Netherl ...

, and studied composition with

Diderik Wagenaar Diderik Wagenaar (born 10 May 1946 in Utrecht) is a Dutch composer and musical theorist. Life and work Wagenaar has lived and worked all his adult life in The Hague. Born to a musical family that includes Johan Wagenaar, he began playing piano at ...

Gilius van Bergeijk Gilius van Bergeijk (born The Hague, 7 November 1946) is a Dutch composer. Taught by Kees van Baaren and Dick Raaymakers (electronic music), Gilius van Bergeijk is a highly respected teacher at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

Career

The music of van der Aa has been performed by ensembles and orchestras internationally. Those include the AskoSchönberg ensemble,

Freiburger Barockorchester Freiburger Barockorchester (Freiburg Baroque Orchestra) is a German Baroque orchestra founded in 1987, with the mission statement: "to enliven the world of Baroque music with new sounds". History The orchestra is based in Freiburg im Breisgau. ...

Ensemble Modern Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries. Hi ...

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklĳk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the "R ...

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on f ...

Dutch National Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a m ...

Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg The Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg is an Austrian orchestra, based in the town and state of Salzburg. The orchestra gives concerts in several Salzburg venues, including the ''Großes Festspielhaus'', the Great Hall of the Stiftung Mozarteum. I ...

Seattle Chamber Players The Seattle Chamber Players are a chamber ensemble focused on contemporary music, founded in 1989 in Seattle, Washington, U.S. In January 2004, the group was awarded the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming. , the core mem ...

, Ensemble Nomad Tokyo,

musikFabrik The Ensemble Musikfabrik (music factory ensemble) is an ensemble for contemporary classical music located in Cologne. Their official name is Ensemble Musikfabrik Landesensemble NRW e.V. (Ensemble Musikfabrik of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia ...

, Continuum Ensemble Toronto,

Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra The Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra (also known in English as the SWR Baden-Baden Freiburg Symphony Orchestra and in German as the Sinfonieorchester des Südwestrundfunks) was a German radio orchestra located in the German cities of Bad ...

, Netherlands Radio Orchestras,

Norrköping Symphony Orchestra The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra ( sv, Norrköpings Symfoniorkester) is a Swedish professional symphony orchestra. It is based at the concert hall De Geerhallen, in the center of Norrköping. History The orchestra was founded in 1912, and ...

, Sweden, and the Helsinki

Avanti! Chamber Orchestra The Avanti! Chamber Orchestra is a Finnish ensemble that focuses on contemporary music. The ensemble when it performs varies in size from a solo player to a symphony orchestra. Avanti! Chamber Orchestra won the Gramophone Prize with their first rec ...

. He completed a short program in film directing at the

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, t ...

in 2002. He also participated in the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

Theater Director's Lab, a short, intensive course in stage direction in 2007. Michel van der Aa's

music theatre Music theatre is a performance genre that emerged over the course of the 20th century, in opposition to more conventional genres like opera and musical theatre. The term came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s to describe an avant-garde approach ...

works, including the

chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas such as Pergoles ...

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

'' (2002), the opera ' (2006, Amsterdam) and the music theatre work ''The Book of Disquiet'', have received international critical praise. The innovative aspect of these operas is their use of film images and sampled soundtracks as an essential element of the score. He directed the television production of ''One'' for the Dutch national broadcasting company

NPS NPS may refer to: Organizations * National Park Service, U.S. * National Pension System, India * National Pension Service, Korea * National Phobics Society, UK charity * National Piers Society, UK charity * National Poetry Slam, competition * ...

. ''Passage'' (2004), a short film by van der Aa, has been shown at several international festivals and has been aired on Dutch national television. He has been a featured artist at the Perth Tura New Music Festival and

Holland Festival The Holland Festival () is the oldest and largest performing arts festival in the Netherlands. It takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theatre, music, opera and modern dance. In recent years, multimedia, visual arts, film and archite ...

. He has collaborated with choreographers such as

Kazuko Hirabayashi Kazuko Hirabayashi (October 18, 1933 – March 25, 2016) was a dance teacher and choreographer. She was born in Japan, where she completed her college education before going to New York to enroll in the Juilliard school. Early life and education H ...

, Philippe Blanchard, Ben Wright and

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (born 30 April 1973) is a Belgian-born international choreographer based out of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dance background Ochoa, who is half-Colombian and half-Belgian, completed her dance training at the Royal Ballet Acad ...

Awards

Van der Aa was recipient of the

Gaudeamus International Composers Award The Gaudeamus International Composers Award is made by the Gaudeamus Foundation. The prize is awarded yearly, to a young composer at Dutch music concert, ''Gaudeamus Muziekweek''. The Gaudeamus Foundation had held an annual music week of Dutch co ...

in 1999. He also received the prestigious

Matthijs Vermeulen Award The Matthijs Vermeulen Award is the most important Dutch composition prize. It was named after the Dutch composer Matthijs Vermeulen (1888–1967). During the years 1972 through 2004, the prize was awarded annually by the Amsterdam Foundation f ...

for ''One'' in 2004. He received the Siemens Composers' Prize in 2005. He also received the

Charlotte Köhler Prize Charlotte Köhler Prize is a Dutch incentive award given to young talent (under the age of 35) in visual arts and theatre. The prizes, €30,000 each, were established in 1988 in honour of the actress and is annually given by the Prins Bernhard C ...

for his directing work and the interdisciplinary character of his oeuvre in the same year. He was awarded the

Hindemith Prize The international Paul Hindemith Prize promotes outstanding contemporary composers within the framework of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (SHMF). The award commemorates the musical pedagogy of Paul Hindemith, who wrote the composition ''P ...

of the

Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a classical music festival held each summer throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. History The festival was founded in 1986 by German concert pianist Justus Frantz. In 2006, the 21 ...

in 2006. In November 2012 it was announced that van der Aa would be the recipient of the 2013

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

Grawemeyer Award The Grawemeyer Awards () are five awards given annually by the University of Louisville. The prizes are presented to individuals in the fields of education, ideas improving world order, music composition, religion, and psychology. The religion awa ...

in Music Composition, for his cello concerto ''Up-Close'', a 'highly innovative fusion of musical and visual art' written for

Sol Gabetta Sol Gabetta (born 18 April 1981) is an Argentine cellist. The daughter of Andrés Gabetta and Irène Timacheff-Gabetta, she has French and Russian ancestry. Her brother Andrés is a baroque violinist. Career Gabetta began to learn violin at ...

and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. In 2013 he won the

Mauricio Kagel Music Prize The Mauricio Kagel Music Prize provided by the German arts foundation Kunststiftung NRW was established in 2011. The prize money is €50,000. Of the prize money, €30,000 goes to the prizewinner and €20,000 has to be used for an art project in N ...

Projects

Van der Aa's 3D film-opera ''Sunken Garden'', a collaboration with David Mitchell, author of ''

Cloud Atlas A cloud atlas is a pictorial key (or an atlas) to the nomenclature of clouds. Early cloud atlases were an important element in the training of meteorologists and in weather forecasting, and the author of a 1923 atlas stated that "increasing use ...

'', was a joint commission from

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

, Toronto Luminato Festival,

Opéra National de Lyon The Opéra National de Lyon, marketed as Opéra de Lyon during the last decade, is an opera company in Lyon, based and performing mostly at the Opéra Nouvel, an 1831 theater that was modernized and architecturally transformed in 1993. The inaugu ...

, and the

. It was given its première by

conducted by

André de Ridder André de Ridder is a German conductor of classical music based in Berlin and working all over the world. Work De Ridder studied conducting with Leopold Hager at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna and with Sir Colin Metters at ...

at the

, London, on 12 April 2013, with

Roderick Williams Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE (born 1965) is a British baritone and composer. Biography Williams was born in North London to a Welsh father and a Jamaican mother. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford and Haberdashers' ...

in the role of Toby. His music is recorded on the

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group. Its Latin name ''ha ...

, Col Legno, Composers' Voice, BVHaast, and VPRO Eigenwijs labels, as well as his own label Disquiet Media.

Works

Opera and music theatre

* ''Vuur'' (2001),

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

, for solo voice, actors, singers, ensemble and soundtrack * ''One'' (2002),

, for soprano, soundtrack and film **

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by the composer * ' (2005–06),

, for six solo voices, ensemble, soundtrack and film ** libretto by the composer, after

Hirokazu Kore-Eda is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including '' Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...

* ''The Book of Disquiet'' (2008),

, for actor, ensemble, soundtrack and film ** libretto after

Fernando Pessoa Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and ...

, adapted by the composer * ''Sunken Garden'' (2011–12),

, for three singers, ensemble, soundtrack and film ** libretto by David Mitchell *''Blank Out'' (2015–16),

, for soprano, baritone (film), choir (film) and 3D film *''Eight'' (2018–19),

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

installation, for mezzo-soprano, soprano, choir, soundtrack, VR *''

Upload Uploading refers to ''transmitting'' data from one computer system to another through means of a network. Common methods of uploading include: uploading via web browsers, FTP clients], and computer terminal, terminals (SCP/ SFTP). Uploading c ...

'' (2021,

Bregenzer Festspiele Bregenzer Festspiele (; Bregenz Festival) is a performing arts festival which is held every July and August in Bregenz in Vorarlberg (Austria). It features a large floating stage which is situated on Lake Constance. History The Festival becam ...

), music and libretto by van der Aa, for soprano, baritone, small orchestra, film projection,

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

Orchestra

* ''See-Through'' (2000), for orchestra * ''Here

o be found O, or o, is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in ...

' (2001), for soprano, chamber orchestra and soundtrack * ''Here nclosed' (2003), for chamber orchestra and soundtrack * ''Second Self'' (2004), for orchestra and soundtrack * ''Imprint'' (2005), for Baroque orchestra * ''Spaces of Blank'' (2007),

song-cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle, of individually complete songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely ...

for mezzo-soprano, orchestra and soundtrack * Violin Concerto (2014) for violin and orchestra

Ensemble

* ''Span'' (1996), for ensemble and soundtrack * ''Between'' (1997), for percussion quartet and soundtrack * ''Above'' (1999), for ensemble and soundtrack * ''Attach'' (1999–2000), for ensemble and soundtrack * ''Here n circles' (2002), for soprano (with small cassette player) and ensemble * ''Mask'' (2006), for ensemble and soundtrack * ''Up-Close'' (2010),

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

for solo cello, strings ensemble/orchestra, soundtrack and film

Chamber music

* ''Auburn'' (1994), for guitar (classical or electric) and soundtrack * ''Oog'' (1995), for cello and soundtrack * ''Double'' (1997), for violin and piano * ''Quadrivial'' (1997), for flute, violin, cello and prepared piano * ''Solo'' (1997), for percussion solo * ''Wake'' (1997), for percussion duo * ''Caprce'' (1999), for violin solo * ''Just Before'' (1999), for piano and soundtrack * ''Memo'' (2003), for violin and portable cassette recorder * ''Transit'' (2009), for piano and film * ''Rekindle'' (2009), for flute and soundtrack * ''And how are we today?'' (2012), for mezzo-soprano, piano and double bass * ''Miles Away'' (2012), for mezzo-soprano, violin, piano and double bass

Dance and film

* ''now

n fragments N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

' (1995), for soprano, clarinet, cello and soundtrack **

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, commissioned by the

Richard Alston Dance Company The Richard Alston Dance Company was a medium size, British contemporary dance company that was formed in 1994 after the demise of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, based at The Place in London London is the capital and largest city o ...

in collaboration with Ben Wright * ''Staring at the Space'' (1995–96), for chamber orchestra ** 70 minute theatre/dance work, commissioned by the

and the Östgöta Dance Company * ''Faust'' (1998), for ensemble and soundtrack ** a large-scale (90 minute) dance work, commissioned by the

New National Theatre Tokyo The is Japan's first and foremost national centre for the performing arts, including opera, ballet, contemporary dance and drama. It is located in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. Since 1997 more than 650 productions were staged. There are about 300 pe ...

, choreographed by Kazuko Hirabayashi * ''The New Math(s)'' (2000), for soprano,

traverso The Western concert flute is a family of transverse (side-blown) woodwind instruments made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist (in British English), flutist (in Ameri ...

, marimba, violin and soundtrack ** Co-commissioned score with

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

for a short film directed by

Hal Hartley Hal Hartley (born November 3, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and composer who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and '90s. He is best known for his films '' The Unbelievable T ...

, for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and

* ''Solitaire'' (2003), for violin and soundtrack **

, commissioned by the Het Nationaal Ballet,

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

Other

* ''Writing to Vermeer'' (1999),

and

Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are the ...

, with the thirteen electronic music inserts (which accompany a corresponding film projection) composed by van der Aa. * ''The Book of Sand'' (2015), digital interactive

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

, based on

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

' short story "

The Book of Sand "The Book of Sand" ( es, El libro de arena, links=no) is a 1975 short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges about the discovery of a book with infinite pages. It has parallels to the same author's 1949 story " The Zahir" (revised in 1974 ...

", with

Kate Miller-Heidke Kate Melina Miller-Heidke (; born 16 November 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Although classically trained, she has generally followed a career in alternative pop music. She signed to Sony Australia, Epic in the US and RCA in the ...

* ''Time Falling'' (2020), album in collaboration with Kate Miller-Heidke"Michel van der Aa – ''Time Falling'' (feat. Kate Miller-Heidke)"
album details, Disquiet Media

References

External links

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Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments. Formed in 1930 throu ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aa, Michel Van Der 1970 births 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Dutch classical composers Dutch male classical composers Dutch opera composers Gaudeamus Composition Competition prize-winners Living people Male opera composers New York Film Academy alumni People from Oss Pupils of Louis Andriessen Royal Conservatory of The Hague alumni Ernst von Siemens Composers' Prize winners 20th-century Dutch male musicians 21st-century male musicians