MICHEL VAN DER AA

Michel van der Aa

In the years following 2000, Michel van der Aa has quickly developed into a composer with an international reputation. Characteristic of his work are his constructivist approach to music and well-considered integration of electronic sounds and visual, theatrical and/or cinematic elements. In a philosophical sense, this gives shape to the ...
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2005   De Nationale Opera
2006   Margriet van Reisen
2011   Amsterdam Sinfonietta

Biography Michel van der Aa

In the years following 2000, Michel van der Aa has quickly developed into a composer with an international reputation. Characteristic of his work are his constructivist approach to music and well-considered integration of electronic sounds and visual, theatrical and/or cinematic elements. In a philosophical sense, this gives shape to the concept of multiple worlds, identities, or realities.

1970 - 1998

Michel van der Aa is born on March 10 in Oss. He studies recording technology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and composition with Diderik Wagenaar, Louis Andriessen, and Gilius van Bergeijk. He followes brief film and directing programmes at the New York Film Academy and the Lincoln Center Theater Director's Lab.

1999 - 2000

Van der Aa works with Louis Andriessen on the latter's opera 'Writing to Vermeer' and the soundtrack of the film The New Math(s) (Hal Hartley, 2000). He receives the Gaudeamus Prize for Between (1997).

2001

He completes the trilogy Between - Above - Attach (1997/2001).

2002

The chamber opera One, for soprano, video and soundtrack, is premiered with the soprano Barbara Hannigan singing the leading role.

2003

Van der Aa finishes the Here trilogy (2001/2003).

2004

He signs a contract with the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes. He is awarded the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize for the chamber opera One (2002).

2005

In June, he receives the Ernst von Siemens Prize during the Kammerspiele in Munich. The Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund awards him the Charlotte Köhler Prize for his work as a director and the multidiscipline nature of his art.

2006

Van der Aa receives the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival's Paul Hindemith Prize. De Nederlandse Opera presents the premiere of his 'After Life', an opera based on the similarly titled film by Hirokazu Kore-Eda. Van der Aa directs the production. The work is exuberantly praised in the press. “Like this, opera can enter the twenty-first century”, writes Jochem Valkenburg in NRC Handelsblad. And the Financial Times speaks of the “Gesamtkunst of the future”.

De Nationale Opera

2009

The multimedia work The Book Of Disquiet (2008) is premiered in Linz, European Cultural Capital 2009. The Dutch premiere comes later this year. In March the song cycle Spaces Of Blank (2007) has its first performance with mezzo soprano Christianne Stotijn and the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest in Amsterdam De Nederlandse Opera performs After Life (2006) again.

2010

After Life (2006) is performed in Lyons and London. Michel van der Aa launches his own label, Disquiet Media, “a multimedia label that embraces unfurling technologies in a wide spectrum of the arts.” During this season Van der Aa is composer-in-residence with the Klang!, new music network in Hamburg.

2011

Michel van der Aa is 'house composer' for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. This is a long-term partnership and will lead to the creation of several major new works over the next few years.

Amsterdam Sinfonietta

2012 - 2013

Michel van der Aa’s new opera Sunken Garden is the first collaboration between the composer and stage and film director Van der Aa, and the celebrated English novelist David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas). It employs a distinctive combination of live action and video projections to tell its story, and for the first time includes 3D film. Sunken Garden will be given its world premiere by English National Opera on 12 April 2013 at the Barbican Theatre in London and will tour with performances at the Holland Festival (June 2013), Toronto Luminato Festival (June 2014) and Opera de Lyon (February 2015). Michel van der Aa wins the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Up-Close (2011), which offers a unique blend of cello concerto with film.

Christianne Stotijn Rick Stotijn

Photos Michel van der Aa

Audio/Video Michel van der Aa

Video Michel van der Aa