Jeroen van Veen - Minimal Prelude 26; Hommage to Philip Glass

Biography

Jeroen Van Veen

Dutch pianist and composer, Jeroen van Veen, the leading exponent of minimalism in Holland today, Alan Swanson (Fanfare)

Jeroen Van Veen (1969) started playing the piano at the age of 7. He studied at the Utrecht Conservatory with Alwin Bär and Håkon Austbö. In 1993 he passed the Performing Artists' Exam. Van Veen has played with orchestras conducted by Howard Williams, Peter Eötvös, Neal Stulberg and Robert Craft. He has played recitals in Austria, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia & the USA.  

Van Veen attended master classes with Claude Helffer, Hans-Peter & Volker Stenzl and Roberto Szidon. He was invited to several festivals; Reder Piano Festival (1988), Festival der Kunsten in Bad Gleichenberg (1992), Wien Modern (1993), Holland Dance Festival (1998) Lek Art Festival (1996-2007). Van Veen recorded for major Dutch Radio- and Television companies like AVRO, NOS, IKON, NCRV, TROS/Internet, WTBC-TV & Radio (Florida, U.S.A.) and Moscow Television. In 1992, Van Veen recorded his first CD with his brother Maarten as the internationally recognized Piano duo Van Veen. In 1995 Piano duo Van Veen made their debut in the United States. They were prizewinners in the prestigious 4th International Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition in Miami, Florida. After this achievement they toured the United States and Canada many times. The documentary "Two Pianos One Passion" (nominated with an Emmy Award 1996) documents them as a duo.  

Besides performing, Jeroen is co-founder and artistic director of the International Student Piano Competition, which is held in Utrecht every two years. In 1995 Jeroen Van Veen founded the duo Sandra & Jeroen van Veen, a piano duo with Sandra Mol. As such, they mainly perform music for multiple pianos by Erik Satie, Douwe Eisenga and Simeon ten Holt. Furthermore, in 1999 Van Veen initiated a concert series ‘Pianova’ in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Beside his career as a solo pianist Van Veen also participates in the following ensembles: ‘Piano Ensemble’, ‘The International Piano Quartet’, ‘Piano Mania’, ‘DJ Piano’ and ‘Jeroen van Veen & Friends’. 

The various compositions by Van Veen may be described as ‘Minimal Music’ with different faces, Crossovers to Jazz, Blues, Soundscape, Avant-Garde, Techno, Trance and Pop Music. Currently Mr. Van Veen is director of Van Veen Productions, Chairman of the Simeon ten Holt Foundation, Culemborg Cultural Foundation, Pianomania Foundation and artistic director of several music festivals in Culemborg, Utrecht and Veldhoven. He is active in the International Utrecht Student Piano Competition and the Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition. Over the last 15 years Van Veen recorded more than 100 CDs for several labels (Mirasound, Koch, Naxos, Brilliant Classics) and his own label PIANO. 

The recording of Les Noces for Koch and Naxos was stated in the New York Times as " the best recording ever".

Classics Today on Erik Satie pianoworks four hands, 10 artistic quality, 10 sound quality

Minimal Prelude 26; Hommage to Philip Glass

(by the composer himself)

This piece is a hommage to Philip Glass who was a great inspiration for me as a composer. The whole minimal prelude is also part of my NLXL which I completed in the end of  2011. There are basically two different moods, the first one is easy going, in the typical polyrhythm (triplets over duplets) way. The general mood is melodic and looking for harmonic ground. It gradually shifts toward a wilder second episode in which the polyrhythmic figure expands and speeds up. The meter transforms from regular to irregular and major and minor alternate constantly. The piece demands a technically good qualified pianist. The overall feeling is a reflexion of our society; getting faster and more complicated every day. 

Duration is approx. 12 minutes.