Tom Loewenthal

Thomas Henri Maria (Tom) Löwenthal (born January 12, 1954 in Amsterdam ) is a Dutch composer and conductor .

youth

Löwenthal is the fifth of seven children from a musical family of doctors in Amsterdam . His grandfather was a professor of music theory at the Amsterdam Conservatory and a church organist . He received his first lessons in music from Bernard Huijbers , who was then a Jesuit, music teacher and choir director at Ignatius College . After graduating from high school, Löwenthal studied music and composition at the Dutch Institute for Church Music (NIK).

Church music

As a music student in his early twenties, Löwenthal began to write melodies for the sacred songs of Huub Oosterhuis . This became an integral part of his work for more than 30 years, where he composed not only movements for polyphonic choir, but also for orchestra. The CDs from Oosterhuis and Löwenthal include u. a. The mij droeg , Missa Solemnis , Aanhef , Wees here aanwezig and Voor uw aangezicht . There are also CDs in German of translated songs with texts by Oosterhuis and music by Löwenthal (together with the other “house composers” Bernard Huijbers and Antoine Oomen ). He also created compositions based on texts by other poets and recorded CDs with various choirs. Löwenthal is the director of the choir of the Amsterdam Student Ecclesia, which almost exclusively uses texts and songs by Oosterhuis in church services. Today he is active both in the Netherlands and in Germany at song days to promote this repertoire.

Honor

In April 2007, Löwenthal and the poet Margryt Poortstra won first prize for the ecumenical hymn Welkom .

Musical theater works

Tom Löwenthal led a large number of choirs outside the church, especially in Amsterdam. In some cases he conducted his own compositions, such as B. De wonderbaarlijke visvangst and De kleine zeemeermin . He has also conducted other musical theater works such as the Amsterdam Mystery Play by Mohamed el-Fers in 1991 and the opera Mahagonny by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in 2006 . In 2008 Joop van den Ende gave him the musical direction of the musical Sunset Boulevard by Andrew Lloyd Webber at the Koninklijk Theater Carr . However, the collaboration was broken off after a short time. In 2014 he composed the opera Ben je thuis voor het donker ( libretto and direction of the world premiere: Erik Karel de Vries ) and was also the musical director of the world premiere in Nijmegen . It was a commissioned work on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Nijmegen in World War II.

Didactic poems

In addition to liturgical hymns, Huub Oosterhuis has also written a number of didactic poems in the last twenty-five years that are intended for use outside of the church. Löwenthal composed the music for soloists, polyphonic choir and orchestra: Het Lied van de Aarde (1989), Het Lied van de Eeuw (1999), Het Lied van de Woorden (2007, German premiere in 2004) and Iemand Meer (for the international Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2007). On November 1st, 2009 his composition of the Oosterhuisschen 16-part Death Vespers (for soloists, choir, piano, organ and cello) premiered.

Private

Löwenthal is the father of two children, a son (born 1998) and a daughter (born 2007). He was married to the pastor Petra Kerssies from Wadenoijen. She died on October 17, 2011 in a traffic accident. His youngest brother Luc Löwenthal also conducts and composes.

Web links

• Website with the sound recordings

Individual evidence

1. ↑ based on a story by Maarten Biesheuvel , first performance January 1, 1988, Studio Amsterdam / Amsterdams Koor en Orkest, Concertgebouw Amsterdam
2. ^ Trouw , October 20, 2011; Het Parool , October 19, 2011; Trouw, November 7, 2011