Dutch composer collects 100,000 Euros
mainIt’s a happy day for Michel Van der Aa, who is clutching the 2015 Johannes Vermeer Prize, a kind of Dutch Nobel.
Michel, best known for his ENO opera Sunken Garden, has to put the money towards a new work. He is the first musician ever to receive the Vermeer.
Go, Michel!
photo (c) Marco Borggreve
Good for him…. that new piece will be a long one, given the figure. This award is aptly reflecting the Dutch understanding of exceptional cultural achievement. No doubt Johannes Vermeer would have LOVED this sunken garden of art.
Have you actually seen or heard the opera?
I did listen to it more than once on the Dutch Radio 4 website where it was available for 3 months I think. It was good enough to make me want to attend it live, unfortunately I couldn’t make it.
He was the first composer listed in the telephone directory.
That’s how the Board of the Vermeer Prize found him. They were in a hurry, not knowing what to do with the money.
Great news and very well deserved. Sunken Garden was one of the most inspired and powerful works I’ve ever experienced. Looking forward to the new work enabled by this award.
Actually, they should rename the prize into Karel Appel Prize or Piet Mondriaan Prize, not Vermeer Prize because that suggests a completely different territory of culture:
http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=609&q=“Karel+Appel”&oq=”Karel+Appel”&gs_l=img.3..0l10.2024.5001.0.5825.13.13.0.0.0.0.56.622.13.13.0….0…1ac.1.64.img..1.12.583.2uxirGPhtCk#imgrc=T_4IxRhNkFjOLM%3A
http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=609&q=piet+mondriaan&oq=“Piet+”&gs_l=img.1.0.0l10.124049.127911.1.327515.16.16.0.0.0.0.55.776.16.16.0….0…1ac.1.64.img..2.27.1309.p92KGRC8VEo#imgrc=1MvxXobDPVGfBM%3A