Life
Giel Vleggaar 's music describes life: everyday habits, sounds from the global village, the stresses of urban European reality with its humour and pathos alike. His medium: contemporary classical music.
On the Road
Born in 1974 in Amsterdam, he has stayed rooted, graduating in composition (with Theo Verbey and Daan Manneke) from the Conservatory of Amsterdam in 2001. And yet, he has been on the road: fascination and flirtation with jazz and pop music (leading to jazz arranging and composition studies with Jurre Haanstra at the Conservatory of Hilversum), a trip to visit the Wolof tribe in the Gambia in 1998, and studies in Karnatic music (with Rafael Reina). His musical influences and tastes remain wide-ranging, providing the inspiration for musical creations of great versatility.
Versatility
It is indeed this versatility that catches the audience's attention: he is as comfortable writing for orchestra, receiving the NOG Incentive Prize in the Young Composers Project from the Netherlands Ballet Orchestra for his piece Fast Lane Woodpecker in 2002, as for unusual combinations such as the duo Harry Sparnaay/ Annelie de Man (bass clarinet/harpsichord) in Counting Stars with Confidence. Nor is Giel Vleggaar a stranger to dance or theater: the multi-media event 'Ozo zwaar Ozo Licht' in the Netherlands' Filmmuseum (1994), the musictheater production 'Perpetuum Mobile' by Dutch theatergroup Orkater (1996), and the dance piece 'DNCS' (1999) all featured his music. Stylistically, his pieces also exhibit great variation: Appalachia (composed for the Nieuw Ensemble) winks a musical eye at bluegrass while Come Here Often? pits two percussionists against a tape of the twenty-something dating scene. And while humour often sparkles through the texture, darker moods and issues also resound, such as in Post Mortem or Fast Lane Woodpecker.
Outlook
"You can bring every piece in music history back to a melodic development. So why not work in such a way that you sketch that essence first and then add the other elements? I find it a very inspiring way to work and I've really stepped back from thinking in predetermined constructions and calculated forms. " Giel Vleggaar's modus operandi is the basis for a style which celebrates lyricism while inviting the unexpected. Free association from a musical perspective works to create an unashamed musical-magico-realism in which Vleggaar can pull on the heart strings, tip his hat to the greats of the Western musical tradition, and wink at the audience in one go. His music enjoys the elusive position of being both absolutely suitable for the serious contemporary classical concert stage and yet also accessible to a wide audience. Vleggaar does not belong to any school or movement: he has developed his style using his own tastes and experiences as guides: from a childhood passion for funk, studies in jazz arranging and composition, experiences writing for theatre and dance to a taste of world rhythms from Africa and India and deep admiration for the great orchestrators of the last century. Just as he allows himself to freely associate, he also believes in being freely inspired by all the sounds and senses of today's world.
© 2005 Teresa Hron / InGenius Artists Management, Inc
Giel Vleggaar 's music describes life: everyday habits, sounds from the global village, the stresses of urban European reality with its humour and pathos alike. His medium: contemporary classical music.
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| © Photo by Magda Bukowska |
Born in 1974 in Amsterdam, he has stayed rooted, graduating in composition (with Theo Verbey and Daan Manneke) from the Conservatory of Amsterdam in 2001. And yet, he has been on the road: fascination and flirtation with jazz and pop music (leading to jazz arranging and composition studies with Jurre Haanstra at the Conservatory of Hilversum), a trip to visit the Wolof tribe in the Gambia in 1998, and studies in Karnatic music (with Rafael Reina). His musical influences and tastes remain wide-ranging, providing the inspiration for musical creations of great versatility.
Versatility
It is indeed this versatility that catches the audience's attention: he is as comfortable writing for orchestra, receiving the NOG Incentive Prize in the Young Composers Project from the Netherlands Ballet Orchestra for his piece Fast Lane Woodpecker in 2002, as for unusual combinations such as the duo Harry Sparnaay/ Annelie de Man (bass clarinet/harpsichord) in Counting Stars with Confidence. Nor is Giel Vleggaar a stranger to dance or theater: the multi-media event 'Ozo zwaar Ozo Licht' in the Netherlands' Filmmuseum (1994), the musictheater production 'Perpetuum Mobile' by Dutch theatergroup Orkater (1996), and the dance piece 'DNCS' (1999) all featured his music. Stylistically, his pieces also exhibit great variation: Appalachia (composed for the Nieuw Ensemble) winks a musical eye at bluegrass while Come Here Often? pits two percussionists against a tape of the twenty-something dating scene. And while humour often sparkles through the texture, darker moods and issues also resound, such as in Post Mortem or Fast Lane Woodpecker.
Outlook
"You can bring every piece in music history back to a melodic development. So why not work in such a way that you sketch that essence first and then add the other elements? I find it a very inspiring way to work and I've really stepped back from thinking in predetermined constructions and calculated forms. " Giel Vleggaar's modus operandi is the basis for a style which celebrates lyricism while inviting the unexpected. Free association from a musical perspective works to create an unashamed musical-magico-realism in which Vleggaar can pull on the heart strings, tip his hat to the greats of the Western musical tradition, and wink at the audience in one go. His music enjoys the elusive position of being both absolutely suitable for the serious contemporary classical concert stage and yet also accessible to a wide audience. Vleggaar does not belong to any school or movement: he has developed his style using his own tastes and experiences as guides: from a childhood passion for funk, studies in jazz arranging and composition, experiences writing for theatre and dance to a taste of world rhythms from Africa and India and deep admiration for the great orchestrators of the last century. Just as he allows himself to freely associate, he also believes in being freely inspired by all the sounds and senses of today's world.
© 2005 Teresa Hron / InGenius Artists Management, Inc
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