Theo Loevendie

Theo Loevendie turned 85 last year, but he still has more plans and zest for work than colleagues half his age. Loevendie is one of the biggest names in Dutch jazz and composed music. He has plotted important musical paths as a pianist, saxophonist and bandleader with groups such as Het Consort, the Boy Edgars Big Band and Ziggurat. After a relatively late calling as composer, a colourful oeuvre has arisen in which Loevendie connects improvisations, folk music (from Turkey among other places) and classical music in a fruitful way.

Loevendie has written for all the large orchestras in the Netherlands. His orchestral works include Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1996), Violin Concerto Vanishing Dances (1998), Clarinet Concerto (2002) and Seyir (2002) for 25 Western and non-Western instruments. Highlights in his oeuvre include the song cycle Six Turkish folkpoems (1977), De Nachtegaal (The Nightingale, 1979) – a musical interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale – and the orchestral work Flexio (1979).

In the 1980s and 1990s, Loevendie increasingly emerged as an opera composer. He completed five operas, including two with an Amsterdam theme, Johnny en Jones and Spinoza. In 2016, he was awarded the prestigious Andreaspenning (Andreas Medal) by the City of Amsterdam. Deputy-mayor Kajsa Ollongren not only called him a great jazz musician, but also a great Amsterdam citizen.

At this moment, Loevendie is working on the Brandenburgiana, commissioned by Holland Baroque, with Erik Bosgraaf as soloist on recorder. The orchestral setting is the same as Bach’s third Brandenburg Concerto and it will receive its premiere during the international music festival November Music this year.

www.theoloevendie.com