Reinbert de Leeuw

Reinbert de Leeuw (8 September 1938 – 14 February 2020) was a Dutch conductor, pianist and composer.

Life

Lambertus Reinier de Leeuw's mother and father were both psychiatrists: Cornelis Homme 'Kees' de Leeuw (1905-1953) and Adriana Judina 'Dien' Aalbers (1908-1957). From age 7, he took piano lessons. He studied music theory and piano at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and composition with Kees van Baaren at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

He taught at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. He was a well-known conductor and pianist performing mainly contemporary music. He was the founder of the “Dutch Charles Ives Society”. Since 2004, he was a professor at the Leiden University in 'performing and creative arts of the 19th, 20th and 21st century'.

In 1974, he founded the Schönberg Ensemble. They mainly focused on performing works by the Second Viennese School and the avant-garde. He composed the piece ''Etude'' (1983–1985) for the strings of the ensemble.

De Leeuw regularly conducted the Netherlands' major orchestras and ensembles, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New Sinfonietta Amsterdam, ''Residentie'' Orchestra The Hague and ensembles such as the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the ASKO, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, and the orchestras of the Dutch Public Radio. In the 1995–96 season, he was the centre point of the 'Carte Blanche' series in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He was involved in the organization of the series 'Contemporaries' at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

He was a regular guest in most European countries (France, Germany including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, England, Belgium) and the United States (Tanglewood Festival, New World Symphony, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Group New York, in Aspen, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minneapolis, and lectured at the Juilliard School of Music in New York), in Japan and Australia.

Reinbert de Leeuw was involved in various opera productions at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam as well as with the ''Nederlandse Reisopera''. Productions included works by Stravinsky (''The Rake’s Progress''), Louis Andriessen (''Rosa - A Horse Drama''; ''Writing to Vermeer''), György Ligeti (''Le Grand Macabre''), Claude Vivier (''Rêves d’un Marco Polo''), Robert Zuidam (''Rage d‘Amours'') and Benjamin Britten ( ''The Turn of the Screw''). In 2011, De Leeuw conducted Schoenberg's monumental ''Gurre-Lieder'', which was the realisation of an old ambition of his.

In 1992, he was guest artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival and from 1994–1998 artistic director of Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. De Leeuw was artistic advisor for contemporary music with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and from 2001 to 2010, he served as artistic leader at the ''Nederlandse Orkest- en Ensemble-Academie'' (NJO; Dutch Orchestra and Ensemble Academy).

He is particularly noted for his shows and recordings of Erik Satie's works. He recorded an album, Socrate, with Barbara Hannigan, a Canadian contemporary opera singer, consisting of largely forgotten works by Erik Satie.

On January 13, 2020, he held his last concert in Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. On February 14 of the same year, he died at his home in Amsterdam, aged 81, survived by his brothers, Kees and Hans de Leeuw.

Awards

On his 70th birthday Reinbert de Leeuw was made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion.NOS Nieuws – Ridder Reinbert
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Recordings

Perhaps De Leeuw's most notable and stunning recodings are those of early piano music of Erik Satie. De Leeuw recorded mostly for Philips, Koch or Nonesuch. One of his last studio recordings was, however, for Alpha Classics: a piano-accompanied reading of Franz Liszt's own late and devotional ''Via Crucis'', reflecting De Leeuw's faith. He had previously recorded ''Via Crucis'' twice, in the 1980s for Philips and in 2012 for Etcetera.

Compositions

Orchestral

* 1965 ''Interplay'' for orchestra
* 1971–1973 ''Abschied'', Symphonic poem for large orchestra
* 2013 ''Der nächtliche Wanderer'', Symphonic poem for large orchestra

Works for wind band

* 1970 ''Hymns and Chorals''

Vocal music

* 2003 ''Im wunderschönen Monat Mai'' – Dreimal sieben Lieder nach Robert Schumann, spoken and sung by Barbara Sukowa

Chamber music

* 1962–1963 ''Quartetto per archi''
* 1983–1985 ''Etude'' for string quartet

Piano works

* 1964 ''Music for piano I''
* 1966 ''Music for piano II''

Notes

References

* ''Charles Ives'' (1969, together with J. Bernlef)

External links

REINBERT DE LEEUW, PIANIST, CONDUCTOR AND COMPOSER

ASKO, Schönberg Ensemble

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leeuw, Reinbert de
1938 births
2020 deaths
20th-century classical composers
20th-century conductors (music)
20th-century Dutch male musicians
21st-century conductors (music)
21st-century classical pianists
21st-century male musicians
Dutch classical pianists
Dutch male classical composers
Dutch classical composers
Dutch conductors (music)
Male conductors (music)
Male classical pianists
Dutch music educators
Edison Classical Music Awards Oeuvreprijs winners
Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year – Vocal or Choral Performance winners
Leiden University faculty
Musicians from Amsterdam
Royal Conservatory of The Hague alumni
Royal Conservatory of The Hague faculty