Aart Strootman receives prestigious Matthijs Vermeulenprijs 2019 for composers

(photo: Dries Alkemade)

Aart Strootman receives the Matthijs Vermeulenprijs 2019 for his work Shambling Emerge - after after party. Strootman will receive the prize on Saturday 7 September 2019 during the Gaudeamus Musiekweek. The prize-winning work will be performed live by Kluster5 after the award ceremony.

According to the jury, in this work the composer brings together improvisation, sound research and the use of a musical 'objet trouvé' in a fascinating and surprising adventure. The jury praised the way in which Aart Strootman, both as a researcher and inventor, makes music and brings together musical worlds. There is no gap between improvised and contemporary music.

Aart Strootman started the docARTES doctoral programme in 2018 (Leiden University). The title of this research project is The Amorphous 6-string.

> More on Aart Strootman and his doctoral research

Matthijs Vermeulenprijs

The Matthijs Vermeulenprijs is the most important Dutch composition prize, named after the symphonic composer Matthijs Vermeulen, who died in 1967. This prize, worth 20 000 euros, is made available every two years by the Performing Arts Fund (Fonds Podiumkunsten) to a Dutch composer who, in the opinion of an independent jury, has composed a special work in the field of contemporary music.

The jury of the Matthijs Vermeulenprijs 2019 consisted of Elma Drayer (chair), Jacqueline Oskamp, Masa Spaan, Maarten van Boven, Monica Akihary en Graham McKenzie.

> Original announcement on the Performing Arts Fund website (in Dutch only)