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AFCM’s Commissioner’s Circle Arizona Friends of Chamber Music has created the Commissioner’s Circle for our audience members who wish to co-sponsor new chamber works with us. Participation gives you the thrill of making a significant contribution to the creation of important new chamber music and of influencing what will be composed in the 21st century. Please contact us for details if you are interested in sponsoring exciting new chamber music. |
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ROEL
VAN OOSTEN
On October 16, 2002 the Osiris Trio performed Roel van Oosten's Pianotrio for the delighted audience of Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. This was so well received that we have commissioned a new piano trio, to be premiered by the Osiris String Quartet on February 9th, 2005. Sponsorship of this piece is still available!
Dutch composer Roel van Oosten, born in 1958 in The Hague, studied both at the The Hague's Royal Conservatory and the Conservatoire National Superior de Musique in Paris. He undertook additional studies in France with Theo van Doesburg, co-founder of the post-impressionist art movement De Stijl.
Most of van Oosten's compositions have been commissioned for chamber ensemble, symphony orchestra, music theater, and special events such as the opening of the Dutch parliamentary year. His composition Les Amours, written for choir and orchestra, received the 2001 European Choir Federation Prize. He has presented his works (all available on compact disc) throughout Europe, China, and the United States.
In program notes for the AFCM concert, Nancy Monsman writes: "The Osiris Trio commissioned van Oosten's Pianotrio and presented its United States premiere in Carnegie Hall. Written in 1992, the Pianotrio is the first of a series of jazz-influenced compositions that van Oosten describes as 'playful concertante works composed according to classical principles.' Formally the Pianotrio echoes chamber works of Beethoven, particularly the Opus 1 No.1 piano trio dedicated to Haydn. Bartok's influence is heard in the Pianotrio's rhythmic vitality and occasionally pungent harmonies. The first movement (Vivace) unfolds in traditional classical form with an exposition of two thematic groups, a development, reprise and coda. Tempestuous and lyrical passages alternate as motifs shift across the various voices. In the slow second movement the melodic lines unfold to suggest languid improvisation. The dancelike Scherzo, animated by playful glissandi and pizzicati, is structured in the classical three-part format with a trio section falling between identical outer sections. The Rondo alternates new thematic ideas with attractive jazz interludes."
Compact Discs
Oude bekenden and the Pianotrio were released on
NM Classics (NM Classics 92071, NM Classics 92108), and Ostinazione
on Composers' Voice (CV 95).