MICHEL VAN DER AA

Spaces of Blank, Mask, Imprint

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Ed Spanjaard

Christianne Stotijn (mezzo-soprano)

Asko|Schönberg Ensemble / Otto Tausk

Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Gottfried von der Goltz (violin)

Spaces of Blank (2007) song cycle for mezzo-soprano, orchestra and soundtrack

1. Part I

2. Part II

3. Part III

4. Mask (2006) for ensemble and soundtrack

5. Imprint (2005) for solo violin and Baroque Orchestra

CD to be made available features various orchestral groups, conductors, and soloists, including the Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, performing three works by van der Aa, Spaces of Blank, Mask, and Imprint.

Michel van der Aa was born in the Netherlands in 1970, and is one of Europe’s most sought-after composers today. Van der Aa's works often include a theatrical element, where staging, film, and music are seamlessly interwoven. Having completed his training as a recording engineer at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Michel van der Aa studied composition with Diderik Wagenaar, Gilius van Bergeijk and Louis Andriessen. His style, independent in spirit, is characterized by a constructivist approach and the use of rhythm and chords as structural elements. It is strikingly subtle, playful, poetic and transparent but not, however, expressive or melodious in the traditional sense.

In 1999 Van der Aa was the first Dutch composer to win the prestigious International Gaudeamus Prize. Subsequent awards include the Matthijs Vermeulen prize (2004), a Siemens Composers Grant (2005), the Charlotte Köhler Prize for his directing work and the interdisciplinary character of his oeuvre (2005) and the Paul Hindemith Prize (2006). Van der Aa recently revised his successful 2006 opera After Life for a revival by De Nederlandse Opera in September 2009 and by Opera de Lyon in March this year. In May it was presented semi-staged at the Barbican Centre in London.

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