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Merlijn Twaalfhoven
Merlijn
Twaalfhoven was born on February 14, 1976 in Wapserveen. After
preparation classes viola at the Royal Conservatory The Hague and a short
study of art history at Leiden University, Merlijn entered the composition
class in the Conservatory of Amsterdam, as a cover to be able to access a
broad and versatile musical education. Next to the basic classical and modern
subjects, he studied improvisation, live electronics and world music (especially
South Indian, Japanese and west African). Additionally, he began to collaborate
with artists of other disciplines such as dancers, theatre directors and visual
artists. From the beginning, he paid close attention to the use of space and
its acoustics. This development finally lead into some huge events, for example,
in the City Hall of The Hague (collaboration with choreographer Ina Stockem),
an enormous shipyard shed in the harbor, the Old Church (collaboration with
choreographer Tamara Roso) and the Music Theatre of Amsterdam (collaboration
with choreographers Ashley Page en Reida Benteifour in project of the Dutch
National Ballet). In addition to spatial music, dancers, cooks and visual
artists frequently became involved in such location projects. Strong interest
in Japanese music and culture led to an intensive trip to Japan, where he
gave workshops and concerts, and followed classes in traditional music.
Activities
In August 2004 Twaalfhoven is appointed as lecturer in pop music at the conservatories
of Arnhem and Zwolle.
Compositions
His works have been performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Radio Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Netherlands Ballet Orchestra,
Kroumata (Swedish percussion group), the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory
of Amsterdam, the Escher Ensemble, the Amstel Saxophone Quartet, Percussion
group The Hague and the Ricciotti Ensemble.Performances took place at the
Holland Festival, the Netherlands Music Days, the International Theatre School
Festival, and the World Music Competition.
Prizes
At the International Rostrum of Composers 2003 Merlijn received an "honourable
mention category young composers" for the violin concerto "If you
reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing
them to the trees".
