Peter Adriaansz was born in Seattle in 1966 and studied composition at the conservatories of The Hague and Rotterdam, where his teachers included Louis Andriessen, Brian Ferneyhough and Peter-Jan Wagemans.
Characterized frequently as 'one of the most singular composers active in the Netherlands at the moment' Adriaansz has worked as a free-lance composer since 1993, receiving commissions and performances from ensembles, Festivals and individual musicians from all over the world, as well as writing for ensembles with more unusual instrumentations for special occasions. His works are performed and broadcast regularly worldwide and have featured on many stages, from the Holland Festival to Huddersfield and from Tashkent to Toronto.
Adriaansz' work can be characterized by a systematic, research-oriented approach towards music. An approach in which sound, structure, harmony and audible mathematics constitute the main ingredients. Starting in 2005 an interest in flexibility, variable forms and - especially - microtonal reflection gradually became predominant in his work. This latter interest lead, among other works, to several large-scale compositions for amplified ensembles, such as Prana (2007), Music for Sines, Percussion, ebows & variable Ensemble (2008) and Three Vertical Swells (2010), works for orchestra and voices (Anekabahudaravaktranetram, 2007, Verdichtingen, 2009), two extended series, on spatial harmony (Structures I-XVI, 2005) and micro acoustics (Waves 1-13, 2008) and many (electro-) acoustic works for incidental commissions, with detailed sinewave patches as a constant feature.
In recent years his work has focussed largely on expanding the world of microtonal reflection with an increased interest in speech and the role of context.
In the words of Bob Gilmore: 'If music can be a medium in which to explore the most profound existential questions, as the medieval scholars believed it could, then each generation must rephrase these questions to make them relevant to their own time. Few contemporary composers have delved so fearlessly into this realm as has Peter Adriaansz. His work is abstract music of a high order, reanimating the mediaeval idea of music as applied number: but the questions it asks are defiantly of the twenty-first century, questions about musical perception, about the nature of sound and the passage of time'.
Several of his works were nominated for various prizes, such as Chant Ascendant, for the 1994 International Gaudeamus Composers Competition and Waves 5-7, Verdichtingen and Three Studies on Elevation; selected in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively for the Dutch Toonzetters Award. In 2015 his work Scala II was awarded the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize.
In 2010 his solo CD Waves, recorded by Ensemble Klang, was released to much national as well as international press acclaim. This was followed by several other releases on labels such as Unsounds and Ergodos and most recently (2021) by the release of one of his largest works to date, Environments, on the Klang label.
Adriaansz teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.
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Environments, interview Aad van Nieuwkerk, Vrije Geluiden (Dutch)
Listen to a sound excerpt on SoundCloud.
Interview Joep Christenhusz NRC, April 2021
Muziek als Objectieve Waarheid 1-6 (rev. 2011)
Zes korte essays over 'muzikale waarheid', in de vorm van een vraaggesprek met Anthony Fiumara
Gereviseerde versie 2011
Music as Objective Truth 1-6 (rev. 2011)
Six short essays on 'Musical Truth', in the form of an interview with Anthony Fiumara
Revised version 2011
Interview Vito Camaretta for Chaindlk (2012)
Published St. Petersburg, 2003. ISBN 5-93356-033-2)
Timbres, Fall 2015
Video interview with Maarten Altena (Double Music)
Notes to Environments + Q & A (2021)
Bob Gilmore - Waves (2009)
How I became a Convert: on the use of microtonality, tuning & overtone systems in my recent work (2008/2009)
(Publication Stichting Huygens-Fokker, Journal 31, 2009. ISSN 1877-6949)
Manifest voor een nieuw Kunstbegrip
An attempt by four composers to educate a burgeoning neoliberal state into the possible meaning and function of Art; and reclaim the language. Peter Adriaansz, Maarten Altena, Rozalie Hirs & Samuel Vriezen (2011)
English
All and Beyond, the music of Peter Adriaansz and Piet-Jan van Rossum
(publication by November Music and MCN Holland for November Music 2010, written and edited by Anthony Fiumara.
ISBN: 978-90-76937-31-1)
Alles voorbij, de muziek van Peter Adriaansz en Piet-Jan van Rossum
(uitgave November Music en MCN voor November Music 2010, geschreven en geredigeerd door Anthony Fiumara.
ISBN: 978-90-76937-30-4)
October 2023 New Work for Joe Puglia and Asko|Schönberg (Cage & Beyond) (Muziekgebouw, dates tba)
November 2022 New Work for Ralph van Raat (Muziekgebouw November 24 2022 & November Music)
November 2022 New Work for Konstantyn Napolov and Orkest de Ereprijs (dates/locations tba)
New Work for Asko|Schönberg
November 12 2022 Grote Kerk, Den Bosch
November 10 2022 Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam
Environments (rescheduled concerts 2021; extra dates/locations tba)
October 7 2022 Korzo, Den Haag
October 6 2022 Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam
September 24 2022 De Doelen, Rotterdam
13/14 Feb 2022, Earport Duisburg, Katharina Gross + Arnold Marinissen, Horizon (No 51)
11 Nov 2021, 19:00 Soundplasma Festival, Talinn, Estonia
Scordatura Ensemble, Enclosures (No 41)
more information
27 Aug 2021, Festival Les Inattendues, 18:00, La cour de l’Éveche, Tournai, Belgium
Ensemble Klang, Environments (No 61)
more information
1 Jul 2021, Minimal Music Festival, 17:00, 18:00, 19:00 Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam
Asko | Schönberg, Structure XI (No 27/11)
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21 April 2021, New Music Miami ISCM Festival
Chen-Hui Jen, Attachments (No 55)
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13 Feb 2021, De Doelen, Rotterdam
Ensemble Klang, Environments (No 61) CANCELED
11 Feb 2021, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam
Ensemble Klang, Environments (No 61) CANCELED
21 Nov 2020, 18:30, 20:15 Uilenburgersjoel, Amsterdam
Michel Marang, clarinet/video, Signals (No 57, premiere Part 1)
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2 Oct 2020, 20:00 Riverrun Festival, L’Athanor, Albi, France
Scordatura Ensemble, Enclosures (No 41)
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watch on YouTube
2 Feb 2020, 19:30 Joe Byrd Hall, Peabody, Baltimore, U.S.
Asko | Schönberg, Parallels (No 46, premiere revised version)
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26 Jan 2020, Galerie Marzee, 16:00, Nijmegen, Netherlands
New European Ensemble, Alternatim (No 65)
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11 Nov 2019, Melos-Ethos Festival, 19:00 Slovenského rozhlasu, Bratislava, Slovakia
Ensemble Spectrum, Waves 11-13 (No 39)
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11 Oct 2019, Gaida Festival, 20:00, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius, Lithuania
Ensemble Synaesthesis, Waves 3, 11-13, 2, 5-7
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8 Sep 2019, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, 12:30 Hertz - Tivoli/Vredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands
New European Ensemble, Alternatim (No 65)
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6 Sep 2019, Enescu Festival, 15:00 Radio Hall, Bucharest, Romania
New European Ensemble, Alternatim (No 65, premiere)
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past concerts