Aart Strootman wins the Matthijs Vermeulenprijs this year with his piece Shambling Emerge – after after party, a commission of Gaudeamus. He wrote the piece in 2017 when he was nominated for the Gaudeamus Award and ultimately won it. The piece is inspired by a recording of composer and improvisor Misha Mengelberg playing piano with a little girl in the cafe of the Bimhuis.
The composer brings, according to the jury, improvisation, sound research and the use of a musical ‘objet trouvé’ together in a fascinating and surprising adventure. The jury praises the way Aart Strootman makes music as a researcher and inventor and brings together various worlds of sounds. In his work there is no difference between improvised and contemporary composed music.
Gaudeamus Muziekweek
Strootman will receive the award on Saturday 7 September during the Gaudeamus Saturday Night, part of the Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2019. The awarded piece will be performed live after the ceremony by Kluster5. With winning the Gaudeamus Award, Strootman also got the commission to write a brand new piece. This piece, called W.A.L.L, will premiere on 4 September during the Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2019.
Matthijs Vermeulenprijs
The Matthijs Vermeulenprijs is the most important Dutch composition award, named after the symfonic composer Matthijs Vermeulen who died in 1967. The award, worth €20.000,-, is given once every two years by Fonds Podiumkunsten to a Dutch composer who according to an independent jury has composed an extraordinary work in the field of contemporary composed music. The jury of the Matthijs Vermeulenprijs 2019 consists of Elma Drayer (head), Jacqueline Oskamp, Masa Spaan, Maarten van Boven, Monica Akihary and Graham McKenzie.