Pierre Bartholomée

Pierre Bartholomée (born August 5, 1937 in Brussels ) is a Belgian composer , conductor and pianist .

Life

Pierre Bartholomée decided to become a musician at an early age and from 1952 attended the Royal Conservatory in Brussels , where he studied piano, composition and chamber music. Here he had his first contact with contemporary music. His piano teacher let him work on works by Olivier Messiaen . In harmony, the then teacher André Souris initiated his students into the latest composition techniques. While still a student, Bartholomée founded a chamber orchestra with which he gave numerous concerts in Belgium and abroad. In 1958 he left the conservatory with a degree in piano and went to Positano in Italy to study with Wilhelm Kempff . The pronounced career spirit of many of his classmates made him quickly abandon this project.

In 1960 he took a position at the Belgian broadcaster RTBF. He could pursue his urge to compose here. During these years he met the later Belgian early music pioneers, the Wieland brothers , Sigiswald and Barthold Kuijken and Robert Kohnen , as well as the avant-garde composer Henri Pousseur . Pousseur encouraged him to become an active musician again, so in 1961 he founded the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles with the Kuijkens, Kohnen, his wife (a harpist) and a few other musicians in order to be able to perform his septet Répons . Bartholomée had many appearances abroad, for example at avant-garde music festivals in Avignon, Darmstadt, Berlin, Warsaw, Venice and others. While he initially appeared only as a pianist, from 1964 he increasingly took over the conductor's baton.

In 1970 he founded the Center de Recherche Musicales de Wallonie with Henri Pousseur, where he was able to fully contribute with the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles. From 1971 to 1977 he was Professor of Music Analysis at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. In 1977, a decisive year for him, he took over the leadership of the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra and gave up his position in the radio. Now he devoted himself fully to romantic music, in 1983 he led the world premiere of the symphonic fragments D 936A / 708A in Tongeren, which Brian Newbould set up as the so-called “ 10th symphony ” of Schubert . He also performed forgotten works by Adolphe Biarent and Charles Tournemire . Belgian premieres of many of Messiaen's works and the first recording of Chôros XII by Heitor Villa-Lobos took place during this period.

As a guest conductor, he led the Orchester de la Suisse Romande , the Philharmonic Orchestras Oslo and Helsinki , the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg , the Tonkünstler Orchestra Lower Austria , the Colorado Festival Orchestra and others.

After a successful time at the helm of the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra, which he made a top orchestra, he left it in 1999 because of irreconcilable differences with the board of directors.

Since then he has increasingly devoted himself to composition and became the composer ( Compositeur en résidence ) of the Université catholique de Louvain . For his services he was knighted by King Albert II.

Web links

• Pierre Bartholomée's personal website

Works (selection)

Orchestral works

• Harmonique (1970)
• Polithophonie (1987)
• Rumeur (1998)
• Humoresque (1994)

Chamber music

• Chanson for violoncello (1964)
• Mémoires for piano (1972)
• Mezza voce for violin, clarinet, piano and percussion (1980)
• Fin de Série 15 Duos for Violins (1995)

Vocal music

• Ludas Sapiente Oratorio (Libretto Nicolas Blanmont ) (2001)

Electronic music

• Thyl Eulenspiegel Ballet for Synthesizer Ensemble (1983)

Opera

• Oedipe sur la route (2002) based on a libretto by Henry Bauchau , premiered at the Monnaie Theater in 2003
• La Lumière Antigone (2005) Opera in 3 acts, based on a libretto by Henry Bauchau, premiered in the Monnaie Theater on April 18, 2008