biography
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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Photo by Alex-Schröder
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Environments, interview Aad van
Nieuwkerk, Vrije
Geluiden (Dutch)
