(Credit: Marco Borggreve)

Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, a leading figure in contemporary music passed away on July 1, 2021 in Hogeweyk, near Amsterdam. He was 82.

Andriessen was born in Utrecht; his father was composer Hendrik Andiessen who was also a professor of composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He would study wih his father and Kees van Baaren at the Hague before graduating in 1961 with the first prize. His next mentor was Luciano Berio and he became an international sensation with his 1976 work, “De Staat.”

In addition to his work as a composer, he co-founded Studio voor Elektro-Instrumentale Muziek STIEM, among others.

With a jazz background, he developed a style that uses elemental harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic materials, with totally distinctive instrumentation, referring to Stravinsky as his model. His compositions attracted eminent contemporary musicians and prominent groups, including De Volharding and Hoketus, the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philarmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Kronos Quartet, and the London Sinfonietta, among many others.

Andreissen help the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall. He was also on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory and taught at such institutions as Yale University and Princeton, among others.

In 2010, he was awarded the Composer of the Year award by Musical America and in 2011, he received the Grawmeyer Prize for musical composition for his opera “La Commedia;” the oepra was also selected by The Guardian as one of the “most outstanding compositions of the 21st century.” Finally, in 2016, he was awarded the Kravis Prize, for New Music.