Guus Janssen

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Guus Janssen (2017 at the Cologne Eight Bridges Festival concert by the David Kweksilber Big Band in the WDR Funkhaus )

Guus Janssen (born May 13, 1951 in Heiloo ) is a Dutch composer, pianist and harpsichord player of improvising music, new music and jazz .

Live and act

Janssen studied piano and composition at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Ton de Leeuw (composition) and Jaap Spaanderman (piano). Since the early 1980s he has played mostly in his own groups, from 11-piece big bands to opera orchestras, but also as a soloist, for example at the North Sea Jazz Festival , the " Holland Festival ", the "Warsaw Autumn Festival" and the " Wien Modern “Festival. He usually plays his own compositions or he improvises. As a jazz musician he played a. a. with John Zorn , Theo Loevendie , Han Bennink and Georg Lewis ; In recent years he has appeared with Bo van de Graafs I Compani , in a duo with David Kweksilber and with the ICP Orkest .

Janssen composed, among other things, “Verstelwerk” as a commission for the Donaueschinger Musiktage , performed there by Ensemble Loos and the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra . For Gidon Kremer and the Schönberg Ensemble he composed “Klotz” (in which he himself played on the hi-hat ), “Passevite” also for the Schönberg Ensemble on behalf of WDR , “Mikado” for the “Trio di Milano” by Bruno Canino and “Basset” for Sabine Meyer and her “Trio di Clarone”. For the centenary of the Juilliard School of Music , he arranged his 2003 clarinet concerto for three improvising clarinetists. His compositions have also been played (and commissioned) by the Concertgebouw Orchestra , the Mondriaan Quartet, the Kronos Quartet , the Ebony Band, the violinist Mark Feldman and the flautist Eleonore Pameijer . With the librettist Friso Haverkamp he created the operas “Fausts Licht” from 1985 (revised 1998 and 1994, for string quartet, reciters and mezzo-soprano), “Noach” (Noah) from 1994 and “Hier” (“Opera bouffa deep down AP in 32 scene's Amsterdam in Aeternum “1996-2000). Finally, the range of his creativity extends to the Chinese Sheng mouth organ ; In 2008 he wrote the "Four Songs" for sheng and orchestra for the virtuoso Wu Wei .

In 1981 he received the Boy Edgar Prize and in 1984 the "Matthijs Vermeulen Prize" for his compositions.

Discographic notes

  • Klankast (Geestgronden, rec. 1987–1991)
  • Lighter (Geestgronden, rec. 1992–1995) with Ernst Glerum , Wim Janssen
  • Chamber & Solo (Geestgronden / Donemus rec. 1982–1996, ed. 1997)
  • Zwik (Geestgronden, 1996–1997)
  • Hollywood oK Pieces (Geestgronden, 2001)
  • Guus Janssen David Kweksilber (Geestgronden, 2006)
  • Out of Frame (Geestgronden, 2008)
  • Meeting Points (Bimhuis, 2015, with Oene van Geel , Lee Konitz , Michael Moore , Ernst Reijseger , Ernst Glerum, Wim Janssen, Han Bennink and others)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.draaiomjeoren.com

Web links

Commons : Guus Janssen  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Janssen, Guus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch composer, pianist and harpsichord player
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Heiloo