Robert Janssens (born 1939) is a Belgian

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 ...

and conductor. He is a French-speaking member of the

Union of Belgian Composers Union of Belgian Composers (Dutch language, Dutch: Unie van Belgische Componisten - French language, French: Union des Compositeurs Belges) is a Belgium, Belgian professional organization of composers founded in 1960. It is closely linked to the Be ...

, one of whose essential missions is "to disseminate the orchestral production of our compositions". Janssens studied at the

Royal Conservatory of Liège Royal Conservatoire of Liège The Royal Conservatoire of Liège (RCL) ( French Conservatoire royal de Liège, Dutch Koninklijk Conservatorium Luik) is one of four conservatories in the French Community of Belgium that offers higher education cou ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

.Conservatoire de Bruxelles
/ref> He initially taught at the École Normale in Brussels. He later became Professor of Orchestra Conducting at the Brussels Conservatory and Director of the Brussels Academy of Music and the . He is the founder and president of the , which regularly presents works by contemporary Belgian composers. Janssens mainly composed works for large orchestra, including a piano and cello concerto and the ballet ''Yerma'', premiered by the , but also piano works and several

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

s. Among his religious works, the Mass of the artistes is particularly noteworthy, as is the Requiem, which was celebrated with standing ovations at its premiere in Brussels in 2004. He is the permanent conductor of the Ensemble symphonique de Bruxelles.

Works

*''Quatre impromptus'' for piano, 1977 *''Les marionnettes de Toone'' for orchestra, 1978 *''Conversations'' for flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon, 1981 *''Narcisse'' to a text by Frederika Blanka for voice and orchestra without piano, 1981 *''Le chant du pou'' for flute, 1982 *''Le Messe des artistes, dite de St François'' for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

, women choir and orchestra, 1982 *''Prélude et fugues'' for organ, 1983 *''Concertino'' for clarinet and piano or strings, 1984 *''Concertino per fagotto'' for bassoon and orchestra or piano, 1987 *''Hommage à Ravel'' for piano, 1987 *''Silver Trio'' for flute, violin and cello, 1987 *''Les chemins de la liberté'' for two pianos, 1988 *''Les sonates de l'Abbaye'' for

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

, 1988 *''Trio'' for flute, violin and viola, 1988 *''Toy toy'' for piano, 1990 *''Mutatis mutandis'' for cello,

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

or viola and piano, 1991 *''Utinam'' for piano, 1991 *''Concerto n°2'' for piano or violin and orchestra or violin and piano, 1992 *''Zodia'', 1992 *''Disneyland'' for clarinet and piano, 1992 *''Sonate "facile"'' for clarinet and piano, 1992 *''Yerma'', ballet, 1992, 1996 *''Voyage au pays sonore...'' for alto saxophone, percussion, accordion, piano and synthesizer, 1993 *''Sonatine'' for recorder and harpsichord, 1994 *''Thème et variations'' for flute and guitar, 1994 *''String quartet n°1'', 1999 *''Concerto'' for cello and orchestra, 2001 *''String quartet n°2'', 2004 *''Requiem'' for

mixed 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 sp ...

and orchestra, 2004 *''String quartet n°3'', 2005 *''Kid Soon'' for soprano, choir and orchestra, 2005 *''Trio à clavier'', 2005 *''Trio'' for violin, viola and cello, 2005 *''Kyrie? Allo?'' for soprano, baritone, women's and children's choir and orchestra, 2006 *''Vidimus Stellam'' for mixed choir, organ and orchestra, 2007

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Janssens, Robert 1939 births Living people Musicians from Brussels Belgian conductors (music) Belgian composers Male composers Academic staff of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Male conductors (music) 20th-century Belgian male musicians 21st-century male musicians