Oscar van Dillen

Oscar van Dillen

Oscar Ignatius Joannes van Dillen (born June 25, 1958 in 's-Hertogenbosch) is a Dutch composer, conductor, and instrumentalist.

Education

Van Dillen studied North-Indian classical music (sitar, tabla, vocal) with Jamaluddin Bhartiya at the Tritantri School in Amsterdam and bansuri with Gurbachan Singh Sachdev at the Bansuri School of Music in Berkeley, California from 1977 to 1980, as well as classical and jazz flute at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam between 1982 and 1984. Here, he also received composition lessons from Misha Mengelberg.

After studies of medieval and Renaissance music with Paul Van Nevel in Leuven (Belgium), he studied classical composition with, among others, Dick Raaymakers and Gilius van Bergeijk at the Koninklijk Conservatory in The Hague in 1990/1991 and with Klaas de Vries, Peter-Jan Wagemans and René Uijlenhoet at the Rotterdam Conservatory from 1996 to 2002. He also studied composition with Manfred Trojahn at the Robert Schumann College in Düsseldorf in 2001, where he also received lessons in conducting from Lutz Herbig.

Oscar van Dillen at a Dutch Wikipedia meeting

Employment and affiliation

Van Dillen teaches World music composition as well as music theory in the jazz, pop and world music department at the Conservatory of Rotterdam.^[1][2][3] He lives in the same city.

He is a member of Componisten 96, a closely restricted^[4] association for the promotion of composing in the Netherlands.^[5]

He was the first chairperson of the Dutch Wikimedia Foundation and among its founders.^[3][6] From December 2006 to July 2007 he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation.^[3][7][8]

He is a founding member of the Rotterdam School of composers.^[9]

Works and projects

On February 22, 2008 his work Paradox - Music for a Sculpture was performed at the Boymans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam.^[10]

On November 21, 2008 his *2 Cameras @ Sea (2008) premiered at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam during SHIFT, the Canadian and Dutch Arts Festival. Van Dillen composed the music for the Canadian ensemble "Continuum Contemporary Music".

In April 2009 Continuum Contemporary Music of Toronto premiered 2 Cameras @ Sea, a collaboration between Oscar van Dillen and Canadian filmmaker Clive Holden, commissioned by the Canada Council for the Arts.^[11] The performance took place at the Images Festival in Toronto, and was repeated in Amsterdam.^[12][13][14]

Also in 2009, Original Winds from Breda performed his ballet music in an extended series of music and dance performances in Rotterdam.^[15]

Van Dillen wrote Objet Privé, for solo cello, and Forecast, for violin, cello and bayan for cellist John Addison who also has one of the string quartets on his repertoire list.^[16]

Doelenkwartet premiered both of his string quartets and continue to play them regularly.^[17]

Compositions

• Saxophone Quartet No. 1 (1996)
• Conga for one percussionist (1996)
• Toccata Sanguinica for Baroque guitar (1996)
• Zwaar is Mooi for ensemble (1997)
• Ignatia for clarinet solo (1998)
• Tarentula for recorder duo (1998)
• Tijd Speelt Geen Rol for ensemble (1998)
• Summa Scientia for female choir (1999)
• String Quartet No. 1 (1999)
• Objet Privé (das Ding an mich) for violoncello solo (1999)
• Le Panache for piano (2000)
• Méditation for piano (2000)
• Labyrinth for three moving trombone players (2001)
• de Beweging for large orchestra (2001)
• Memos for a New Millennium for Disklavier with Player (2002)
• Roter Damm Verwandelt for solo rapper, ensemble and soundscape (2002)
• de Stad for ensemble (2003)
• mm³ for Toy piano (2004)
• Forecast for violin, violoncello and bayan (2004)
• String Quartet 2 (2007)
• Paradox, Music for a sculpture (2008)
• 2 Cameras @ Sea (2008), a project with Canadian filmmaker Clive Holden and part of the Utopia Suite.

Recordings

• Van Dillen's first CD, de Stad (the City), performed by the Ensemble Gelber Klang, was released on Super Audio CD under the Cybele label (2003) SACD 361.301.^{[18][19][20][21]}
• His work for three toy pianos mm³ is included on Bernd Wiesemann's CD Das Untemperierte Klavier: Neue Kompositionen für Kinderklavier, Cybele SACD 160.501.^[22]
• The DoelenKwartet has recorded Van Dillen's String Quartet No. 1, Etcetera KTC 1339.^[23][24]

References

1. ^ "Turkish Music: Teachers". Codarts: Rotterdam World Music Academy. http://www.codarts.nl/01_home_en/02_cons/05_AWM/content/info/turkish/AWM-INFO-080114-en-tm-teachers.php. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
2. ^ "27 september 2009: Vredesfestival bij Laurenskerk" (in Dutch). 2009-08-27. http://www.bruggenbouwers.com/2009/08/27/27-september-2009-vredesfestival-bij-laurenskerk/. Retrieved 9 February 2010. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ ^{a b c} Kaya, Önder. "Oscar van Dillen: 'Voor persoonlijke ontwikkeling is kennis de essentiële factor'". Zaman Hollanda. http://www.zamanhollanda.nl/nieuwsdetail.asp?id=216. Retrieved 2010-02-12. "Als professioneel componist doceert hij wereldmuziekcompositie en muziektheorie aan het Rotterdams Conservatorium. Daar geef[t hij] les in Indiase muziek, Latin-muziek en in het bijzonder Turkse muziek. Daarnaast is hij een van de oprichters van Wikimedia in Nederland, de non-profitorganisatie die vooral bekend is van de internetencyclopedie Wikipedia. Sinds eind 2006 is hij bestuurslid van de internationale Wikimedia Foundation, de overkoepelende organisatie die de diverse Wiki-projecten faciliteert." 
4. ^ "Membership". Componisten 96 website. http://www.componisten96.nl/membership.html. Retrieved 12 February 2010. 
5. ^ "Members". Componisten 96. http://www.componisten96.nl/members.html. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
6. ^ Klaver, Marie-José (2008-08-05). "Kleurensysteem moet Wikipedia integer maken; Donkeroranje betekent onbetrouwbaar". NRC Handelsblad. http://www.nrc.nl/media/article1948008.ece/Kleurensysteem_moet_Wikipedia_integer_maken. Retrieved 2010-02-12. "Oscar van Dillen, voorzitter van de Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland, is enthousiast over WikiTrust. 'Ik juich de toepassing van WikiTrust toe omdat het programma de inhoud van Wikipedia makkelijker te controleren maakt', aldus Van Dillen, die werkzaam is als componist en docent aan het Rotterdams Conservatorium." 
7. ^ "Board of Trustees". Wikimedia Foundation. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees#Former_Board_members. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
8. ^ "Nederlanders in bestuur Wikipedia". NOS Nieuws. 2006-12-09. http://nos.nl/artikel/59495-nederlanders-in-bestuur-wikipedia.html. Retrieved 2010-02-12. "De Nederlanders Oscar van Dillen en Jan-Bart de Vreede treden toe tot het zevenkoppige internationale bestuur van de gratis internetencyclopedie Wikipedia. [...] Ook hoopt Van Dillen, componist en docent aan het Rotterdamse conservatorium, dat zijn nieuwe status als bestuurslid van Wikimedia hem een ingang bezorgt bij het ministerie van Onderwijs." 
9. ^ Top, Edward (August 2003). "The Rotterdam School". http://home.wanadoo.nl/edwardtop/tekst/Rotterdamse%20School.html. Retrieved 12 February 2010. 
10. ^ "Premiere van een nieuw werk van Oscar van Dillen". 22 February 2008. http://www.donemus.nl/nieuws_details.php?id=1338&lang=NL. Retrieved 12 February 2010. 
11. ^ "Notes on Composing: 5 Collaborations in Film and Music reviewed by David Fujino". Showtime Magazine. 2009-04-15. http://showtimemagazine.ca/blog/?m=200904. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
12. ^ "2 Cameras @ Sea". Images Festival on Screen. http://www.imagesfestival.com/production.php?id=2788. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
13. ^ "Notes on Composing: 5 collaborations in film and music". Continuum Contemporary Music. http://www.continuummusic.org/0809.htm#notes. Retrieved 9 February 2010. ^{[dead link]}
14. ^ "ACSN News archive 2008 - SHIFT Festival Amsterdam-Toronto". 14 November 2008. http://www.acsn.nl/news/news-2008.html. Retrieved 12 February 2010. 
15. ^ Jongeneelen, Willem (2009-04-09). "Nieuwe wind vanuit Breda". BN De Stem. http://www.bndestem.nl/algemeen/cultuur/4795257/Nieuwe-wind-vanuit-Breda.ece. Retrieved 2010-02-12. "Het spelen van de eigentijds klassieke stukken van componist Oscar van Dillen vergt andere kwaliteiten dan het improviseren. Balemans: 'Verwacht geen melodische stukken muziek. Wij voeden de dansers en spelen in dienst van hen. [...]'" ^{[dead link]}
16. ^ Addison, John. "Contemporary". John Addison website. http://www.johnaddison.eu/repertoire_contemporary.htm. Retrieved 14 February 2010. 
17. ^ "Repertoire". DoelenKwartet website. http://www.doelenkwartet.nl/pages/nl/repertoire.php. Retrieved 14 February 2010. 
18. ^ Gibbs, Tom (2004). "Oscar van Dillen: De Stad (review)". Audiophile Audition. http://www.audaud.com/audaud/JUL-AUG04/hires/hires2.html#osc. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
19. ^ Vitalis, Christian (2009-10-23). "Eine Sinfonie der modernen Großstadt". klassik.com. http://magazin.klassik.com/reviews/reviews.cfm?TASK=REVIEW&RECID=3651. Retrieved 2010-02-12. 
20. ^ Lutz, Leslie (03-04 2004). "Thema: Oscar van Dillen: De Stad Für Ensemble / Stadsgeschiedenis". Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 165 (2): 27. 
21. ^ Dibelius, Ulrich (May 2008). "Komponisten im Sog des Globalen" (in German). MusikTexte 117. 
22. ^ Gibbs, Tom (2004). "The Not So Well-Tempered Klavier – New Compositions for Toy Piano – Bernd Wiesemann, Toy Piano (review)". Audiophile Audition. http://www.audaud.com/audaud/JUL-AUG04/hires/hires2.html#wie. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
23. ^ "Rotterdam String Quartets". Etcetera Records. http://www.etcetera-records.com/index.php?168. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
24. ^ Tannebaum, Lutz (08 2008). "Collections: 'Rotterdam Quartets'". American Record Guide 71 (4): 211. ISSN 0003-0716. 

External links

• Official website
• User:Oscar at WikiMedia Foundation website
• Original Winds website
• Reviews of de Stad (in German)

Persondata
Name	Dillen, Oscar van
Alternative names
Short description	Dutch composer, conductor, flautist and music educator
Date of birth	June 25, 1958
Place of birth	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Date of death
Place of death