-> portrait albums
-> anthologies
-> list of musical works
-> orchestra
-> ensemble
-> chamber
-> vocal, based on own poetry
-> spoken, based on own poetry
-> electroacoustic
-> works of youth
music recordings
portrait albums
• dreams of airs. Amsterdam: Iris or Hazel, 2026 (in preparation).
• Infinity stairs. Amsterdam: Iris or Hazel, 2025. Listen on Spotify or Apple Music.
• Rosehart. Amsterdam: Iris or Hazel, 2025.
• Pulsars (music, poetry). Amsterdam: Attacca Productions, The Netherlands, 2010.
• Platonic ID (music). Amsterdam: Attacca Productions, The Netherlands, 2007.
• In LA (music, poetry). Boxtel: Drukkerij Tielen. The Netherlands. 2003.
• Sacro Monte (music). Amsterdam: MCN, NMClassics, The Netherlands, 1998.
“The finely crafted music of composer and poet Rozalie Hirs is color, light, space, wind, movement, and something elusive. This wonderful portrait album features five solo pieces (for cello, voice, bass clarinet, electric guitar, and flute) as well as the trio Infinity Stairs, performed by outstanding musicians. Expansive, sophisticated, and contemplative chamber music that reveals great imagination.” – ★★★★☆ Joep Stapel, Klassiek, NRC, 2025
“Rozalie Hirs is unlike anyone else in the Dutch music landscape — her language is at once mathematical, colorful, and spiritual. [..] As Hirs philosophizes and explores, she creates sound worlds that sometimes feel familiar, sometimes uncannily strange.” — ★★★★☆ Dennis Bajram, Klassiek, Volkskrant, 2025
“Beyond idiomatic colors, the result approaches a kind of domestic genre, of which Rozalie Hirs’ article 10 [prismes] is an avatar. The tenth installment in a series she writes for solo instruments, the piece unfolds subtle variations in harmonic lighting with craftsmanship reminiscent of Vermeer.” – Anaclase, 2022
“What Rozalie Hirs creates in her vocal, instrumental, and electroacoustic music is not only exceptionally accomplished but also unique. By applying spectral and psychoacoustic phenomena with the aid of computer software, frequency analysis, sum and difference tones, microtonality, and electronic (and thereby acoustic) resonance, she brings the listener into contact with a completely new world of sound—a world in which, alongside an inspiring wealth of ideas, technology plays a dominant role. But there is more: the avant-garde interweaving of ‘ordinary’ musical instruments with electronics.” – Aart van der Wal, Opus Klassiek, 2025
“Inspired by the acoustic and psychoacoustic properties of sound, she succeeds in masterfully bringing together worlds that would seem impossibly far apart. Precise frequency calculations matter as much as her unmistakably personal harmonic language, derived from a distinctive, self-crafted spectrum. This is music born not of melody or harmony in the traditional sense, but from the inner architecture of sound itself. […] Her spectral thinking, her deft use of electronics, and her seamless fusion with traditional instruments lift her work high above the usual avant-garde terrain. Hirs does not follow existing norms—she sets them. The result is an engrossing and often exhilarating listening experience.” – Aart van der Wal, Opus Klassiek, 2025
“The Dutch composer and poet Rozalie Hirs (b. 1965) wrote her orchestral piece bron for the Matinee, returning to the source of her composing: a love of sound. The work unfolds as a sustained sequence of swelling and fading sonic forms. Associations with breath and surf are immediate. The winds take the lead while the strings roll over like breakers; pause. And then again. The acoustic ‘skin’ of this sonic surf is iridescently beautiful. Hirs’ carefully crafted notation continuously brings new harmonies out of clusters of notes, accented by tubular bells and timpani. Within the overarching experience of hypnotic repetition, countless things happen. Midway, descending glissandi in the strings signal the end of the first half; afterwards, contrasts are sharper, crescendos more clearly defined. The second half concludes with rising glissandi. The expectation of a tonal center is finally fulfilled with a brilliant, diffuse closing chord on the final note of the basses.”
– Joep Stapel, NRC, 2023
“‘what is inside? / inside a word you mean?’, are the opening lines of Rozalie Hirs’s text for her electronic composition, Pulsars. Apt words for a composer whose work shows a marked interest in the inner workings of sound and language, on the physical level of acoustics and perception as well as on the level of expression and meaning. In fact, for Hirs, “meaning” itself is a physical phenomenon, always being produced and received by the neurology of our bodies. That makes words physical entities, not only because they are, as sounds, subject to the laws of acoustics, but also because meaning itself is a process that happens within the body, and is therefore produced by nature. Thus it is nature that we can find at work “inside” words. At the same time, of course, meanings are cultural – they are the means by which we communicate. That aspect, too, can be found within the lines quoted: the questions are addressed to a ‘you’. This ‘you’, however, appears only after the main question: what is inside, inside a word? Which might suggest that culture follows nature: the nature of our bodies and our neurology makes it possible for us to have words and meanings, and on the basis of that, culture.”
– Samuel Vriezen, Pulsars liner notes
“Especially in her solo compositions, every single one of them a tender miracle of concentration and imagination, the exploration of sonic possibilities by varied repetition seems to be among the most important procedures.” – Jochem Valkenburg, NRC Handelsblad
“That the table of elements knows few secrets for Hirs is shown by the high, enchanting mixed sounds of her article 0, played by metal percussion and rocks tuned to pitch.” – Roland de Beer, Volkskrant
“All pieces are based on essentially simple ebb-and-flow movements combined with an extraordinary richness of sonorities. Anyone wishing to experience Hirs’ concentrated sound language should try the refined percussion work article 0 [transarctic buddha], where we are surprised by a sound very close to that of a gamelan ensemble, played by a single musician (Arnold Marinissen). In fact, all the works documented here are exquisite sound still lifes that gradually hypnotize the listener and can even induce euphoric rapture. The intimate, crystal-clear recording technique makes this a top-tier production, and a significant contribution to Dutch music.” – MB, De Stentor, 2007
“Purified, as if washed clean—that is one way one might characterize the music of Rozalie Hirs (1965). Her work reveals itself with the greatest clarity; she creates a world in a few gestures. Within that world, sonic beauty is of greater importance than the display of technique or structure. Indeed, though Hirs’s points of departure are almost always austere and sober, she permits herself a great measure of intuition. The listener hears a number of associations that occur within the framework of the plot the composer has laid out. This is not to say that the she only works intuitively when constructing her works–quite the contrary. At first hearing, her gestures may seem simple but beneath them refined methods are hidden, rooted in mathematical or physical ideas. The unwary listener need not, in fact, be occupied with the mathematical rules underlying her music. Hirs seems to be most eager to bring about the soft, gleaming skin of sound. Each successive piece becomes more and more soulful and warm-blooded.”
– Anthony Fiumara, Platonic ID liner notes
“A faultless little treasure.”
– Frits van der Waa, Volkskrant
anthologies
• bee sage, Fie Schouten & Katharina Gross (works by Rozalie Hirs, Kaija Saariaho, and others), Amsterdam: Attacca Productions, The Netherlands. 2024.
• Electric Language, Wiek Hijmans (works by Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Rozalie Hirs, Alison Cameron, and others), Amsterdam: Attacca Productions, The Netherlands. 2018.
• Six, Slagwerk Den Haag (works by Peter Adriaansz, Maarten Altena, Luiz Yudo, Tom Johnson, Xenakis, Steve Reich, and Rozalie Hirs), Amsterdam: Attacca Productions, The Netherlands. 2015.
• Ladder of Escape 11, Fie Schouten (works by Stockhausen, Kagel, Rozalie Hirs, Robin de Raaff, Unsuk Chin), Amsterdam: Attacca Productions, The Netherlands. 2014.
• Takao Hyakutome: Works for solo violin (works by Applebaum, Berio, Hirs, Hyakutome, Kimura, Luppi), 2011.
• Anthology of Dutch Electronic Music 1999-2000, Amsterdam: Basta Music/ MCN, 2011.
• Red, White & Blues, Marcel Worms, Amsterdam: Attacca Productions, 2010.
• Traces, Spuren. Johannes Fischer. Leipzig: Genuin/ Deutschlandradio, 2009.
• Works for Percussion (works by Cage, Xenakis, Ferneyhough, Volans, Javier Alvarez, Rozalie Hirs, Arnold Marinissen, Willem Boogman, Michel van der Aa), Arnold Marinissen, Amsterdam, 2002.
• Soundscape Amsterdam. Ssccd 001. Amsterdam: Staalplaat. 1995.
• Music Box. 32 composities voor speeldoos. EW 9413. Hilversum: VPRO Eigen Wijs, 1994.
“Growling, squeaking, buzzing, and singing, Gross and Schouten impress with five listening rituals for cello and bass clarinet. The title piece, Rozalie Hirs’ bee sage, is exemplary: it creates an original, uncompromising, and stunningly beautiful sound world, both raw and lyrical, exploratory and unhurried.” – Joep Stapel, NRC, 2025
“Bee sage grosses in melodic lines and resonating chords in the very low regions. Deep, droning tones of the bass clarinet lay a sonorous foundation against which the cello places nimble motifs, which the clarinet takes over or imitates. […] Fascinating and enchanting” – Thea Derks, Contempary Classical, 2025
list of musical works
List of musical works by Rozalie Hirs. Orchestral scores. Works for ensemble. Chamber and solo works. Instrumental works with or without electronic sounds. Works for spoken voice, based on own poetry, with or without electronic sounds. Electroacoustic or electronic music.
orchestral music (15 musicians or more)
• bron (2022) 14′
4fl, 4ob, 4cl, 4fg, 5cor, 3trp, 3trb, tba, timp, 3perc, cel, pf, 2arp, string orchestra (14-14-10-10-8)
• avatar (2022) 8′
2fl, 2ob, 2cl, 2fg, 2cor, 2trp, trb, tba, timp, 2perc, string orchestra (minimum 8-6-4-4-2)
• lightclouds (2019) 15′
brass quartet (cor, trp, btrb, tba) & ensemble (fl, ob, cl, fg, perc, pf, keyboard, 2vln, va, vc, cb), electronic sounds
• the honeycomb conjecture (2015) 15′
2fl, ob, cl, bcl, fg, 2cor, 2trp, btrb, 2perc, pf, 2vln, 2va, 2vc, cb, electronic sounds
• atlantis ampersand (music, text: Rozalie Hirs; 2015) 22′
2fl, cl, bcl, cfg, cor, trp, trb, acc, 2perc, pf, 8-part soloists’ choir 2-2-2-2 (or choir 32 voices minimum), 2vln, va, vc, cb, electronic sounds
• lichtende drift (2014) 10′
strings 6-6-5-4-2 divisi
• roseherte (2008; 2014) 16′
3-3-3-3, 4-3-3-1, 4perc, cel, pf, arp, str 16-14-12-10-8, electronic sounds (version for symphony orchestra, 2008)
2-2-2-2, 2-2-2-1, 2perc, pf, arp, strings 6-6-4-4-2 divisi, electronic sounds (version for orchestra, 2014)
• platonic ID (2006) 18′
picc, fl, cl, bcl, pf 4-hands, 2vln, 2va, 2vc, cb (or with a string orchestra)
• book of mirrors (film: Joost Rekveld; 2001) 11′
fl, ob, cl, fg, cor, trp, trb, arp, e-gt, pf, 2perc, 2vln, 2va, 2vc, cb
music for ensemble (4-14 musicians)
• charms, symmetries (2024) 17′
2 sax (1: alt, ten; 2: sop, alt, bar), trb, perc, pf, egit/bgit
• adonis blue (version for saxophone quartet, 2024) 6′
sop sax, alt sax, ten sax, bar sax
• adonis blue (2023) 6′
2vln, va, vc
• artemis (German; music, poetry; 2022) 27′
sop, trp, trb, 2perc, egit, pf, vc, electronic sounds
• hand in hand (music, poems: Rozalie Hirs; German; 2020) 15′
sop, 2vln, va, vc
• dreams of airs (music, poems: Rozalie Hirs; multilingual; 2017-18) 60′
sop, fl, basscl/cl, perc, egt, pf, vln, va, vc, electronic sounds
• parallel world and sea (2017-18) 25′
i. parallel world [breathing]
ii. parallel sea [to the lighthouse]
fl, cl, cor, trp, 2arp, 2perc, vln, va, vc, cb, electronic sounds
• parallel sea [to the lighthouse] (2018) 12′
fl, cl, cor, trp, 2arp, 2perc, vln, va, vc, cb, electronic sounds
• parallel world [breathing] (2017) 13′
fl, cl, 2arp, perc, vln, va, vc, electronic sounds
• nadir (2014) 20′
2vln, va, vc, electronic sounds
• Arbre généalogique (music, poem: Rozalie Hirs; French translation: Henri Deluy; 2011; 2025, rev.) 17′
fl/afl, ob/ca, cl/bcl, fg/cfg, cor, perc, pf, sop, 2vl, va, vc, cb, electronic sounds
• zenit (2010) 15′
2vln, va, vc
• Venus [evening star] [invisible] [morming star] (2010) 20′
6perc (vibraphones, crotales, bell plates, bowed cymbals, sixxen), electronic sounds
• sacro monte (1997) 11′
fl, cl, cor, perc, pf, 2vln, va, vc, cb
chamber music (1-3 musicians)
• codex lilium (2025) 14′
vln, vla, vc
• bee sage (2023) 14′
cbcl/bcl, vc
• article 10 [prismes] (2021) for cello solo 12′
• meditations (2017)
i. on continuity
ii. on repetition
iii. on tenderness
iv. on lines
v. on imitation
pf, electronic sounds
• on tenderness (2017) 7′
pf, electronic sounds
• infinity stairs (2014) 11′
fl, bcl, e-gt, electronic sounds
• article 8 [infinity] (2014) 9′
fl, electronic sounds
• article 6 [six waves] (2013) 10′
e-gt, electronic sounds
• article 7 [seven ways to climb a mountain] (2012) 13′
bcl, electronic sounds
• article 5 [dolphin, curved time] (music, text: Rozalie Hirs; 2008) 11′
sop
• article 4 [map – la carte géographique – landkaartje] (2004) 10′
vln (va)
• article 1 to 3 [the] [aleph] [a] (2003) 12′
pf
• article 0 [transarctic buddha] (2000) 8′
perc (vibraphone, cowbells or thai gongs, crotales, 23 pitched stone slabs)
vocal (sung) music, based on own poetry
• artemis (German; music, poetry; 2022) 27′
sop, trp, trb, 2perc, egit, pf, vc, electronic sounds
• hand in hand (music, poems: Rozalie Hirs; German; 2020) 17′
sop, 2vln, va, vc
• silenced (music, text: Rozalie Hirs; English; 2018) 4′
sop, pf
• atlantis ampersand (music, text: Rozalie Hirs; multilingual; 2015) 22′
2fl, cl, bcl, cfg, cor, trp, trb, acc, 2perc, pf, 8-part soloists’ choir 2-2-2-2 (or choir 32 voices minimum), 2vln, va, vc, cb, electronic sounds
• Three songs for Curvices: Proofs of Love, Words roll into brightness, This singing of tongues (music, poems: Rozalie Hirs; English; 2013) 8′
voice, e-gt, b-gt, drums
• Arbre généalogique (music, poem: Rozalie Hirs; French translation: Henri Deluy; 2011; 2025, rev.) 23′
fl/afl, ob/ca, cl/bcl, fg/cfg, cor, perc, pf, sop, 2vl, va, vc, cb, electronic sounds
• article 5 [dolphin, curved time] (music, poem: Rozalie Hirs; Dutch or English; English translation: Donald Gardner; 2008) 11′
sop
music with spoken voice, based on own poetry
• dreams of airs (music, poems: Rozalie Hirs; multilingual; English translation: Donald Gardner; German translation: Rozalie Hirs, Daniela Seel; 2017-18) 60′
sop, fl, basscl/cl, perc, egt, pf, vln, va, vc, electronic sounds
• in state of [war] (music, text: Rozalie Hirs; Dutch; 2013) 8′
12 spoken voices
• seven tracks for Curvices: Six destinations, Aurora borealis, Ladders of escape, Too many snakes here, Climbing a small rock, Substance of memory, Lines of moving about desert, salt water, cities (music, poems: Rozalie Hirs; English; 2013) 21′
spoken voice, electroacoustic & electronic sounds
• bridge of babel (music, collage poem: Rozalie Hirs; multilingual; 2009) 7′
spoken voice, electronic sounds
• curved space (music, poems: Rozalie Hirs; Dutch or English; English translation: Donald Gardner; 2009) 27′
spoken voice, fl, bcl/cbcl, try/lapsteel gt, pf, cb, live electronics
• poetry pieces I-III [heaven bleak, dolphin, family tree] (music, poems: Rozalie Hirs; Dutch or English or German; English translations: Willem Groenewegen, Donald Gardner; 2008) 5′
spoken voice, soundtrack
• pulsars movement IV (music, poem: Rozalie Hirs; English; 2007) 6′
spoken voice, prerecorded voices, electroacoustic soundtrack
• vlinders, gras (music, poem: Rozalie Hirs; Dutch; 2007) 5′
4 spoken voices
• to the sun/ Aan de zon, de wereld (music, poems: Rozalie Hirs; Dutch, English, or German; several translators; 2006-11) 11′
spoken voice, electroacoustic soundtrack
• van het wonder is woord (music, poem: Rozalie Hirs; Dutch; 2005) 3′
spoken voice, prerecorded voices, electronic sounds
• klangtext, textklang (poems: Rozalie Hirs; music: Rozalie Hirs, James Fei; German; 2004) 27′
spoken voice, live analogue electronics (open score for improv)
• a throwaway coincidence that determined everything (music, poem: Rozalie Hirs; multilingual; film: Paul Leyton; 2004) 2′
spoken voices, soundtrack for film
• in la (music, poem: Rozalie Hirs; Dutch, 2003; English, 2010) 18′
6 spoken voices
electroacoustic or electronic music
• ways of space (2019) 15′
quadrophonic electronic sound sculpture (spatial design: Machiel Spaan, M3H architecten)
• luisterhuis (2017) 37′
electroacoustic composition for architectural installation/ sculpture (design: Machiel Spaan, M3H architecten)
• hilbert’s hotel (2015) 8′
31-tone MIDI controlled player organ, electronic sounds
• interlude for curvices (2013) 18′
electroacoustic
• pulsars movements I-III, V (2007) 22′
electroacoustic
• geluksbrenger (2010) 10′
electronic music for website
• for morton feldman (2000) 12′
electroacoustic
works of youth
The following music compositions composed during the 1990s and the early 2000s can be regarded as mere works of youth; some recent works are currently in revision:
• ain, silabar ain (2013; in revision) 20′
cl, 5sax, 5trp, 5trb, tba, e-gt, b-gt, pf, 2perc
I: fully notated score
II: open score for improv
Published by Deuss Music, The Hague, The Netherlands
• little whale and the ice (2010; in revision) 13′
fl, fl/afl, cl/bcl, asax/ssax, bsax/asax, cor, trp, 2trb, tba, perc, pf, e-git, b-git
• geluksbrenger (2010) 10′
electronic music for website
• a-book-of-light (2003; in revision) 17′
fl, ob, cl, cor, trp, pf, perc, vln, va, vc, cb, electronic sounds
• source of blue (2005) 5′
spoken voice, pf
• ton luxiert (2003) 6′
electroacoustic
• noise~ (2001) 10′
electroacoustic
• dog making kit (English; poem: Anne Elliott; music: Rozalie Hirs; 2000) 6’15
electroacoustic
• puppy (English; poem: Anne Elliott; music: Rozalie Hirs; 2000) 5’00
sop, pf, vc
(Dog Making Kit and Puppy were composed as a diptych, to be performed attacca)
• for Morton Feldman (2000) 12′
electroacoustic
• the sea (music, poetry; English; 1999) 3′
voice, soundtrack
• aquarium (music, poetry, film; Dutch; mime: Simone de Jong; camera: Onno van Dodewaard; 1999) 6′
spoken voice, electroacoustic soundtrack
• meridian (1998) 8′
orchestra
• well (music, poetry; English; 1998) 8′
voice, asax, pf, per, cb
• wel gek (music, poetry; Dutch; 1998) 7′
children’s choir, baroque ensemble
• myth of er (music, poetry; English; film: Martin Putto, Rozalie Hirs; 1996) 6′
voice, 2perc, 2vln, 2vc
• invisible self (1996) 13′
3trp, 3trb, pf, b-gt
• schizofonia (1996) 7′
electroacoustic
• Song for Cathy (English; poetry: T.S. Eliot (selected from: Four Quartets); 1995) 2′
voice, 4vc
• yliaster (1995) 8′
pf, vln
• slaaplied voor een duivel (music, poetry; Dutch; 1994) 2′
spoken voice, music box
• pamwe (1994) 9′
tsax, 2perc
• die parke (German; poetry: Rainer Maria Rilke; 1993) 6′
sop, mezzosop, alto
• lied van de bosgeesten (music, poetry; Dutch; 1992) 5′
children’s choir, pf, perc
• oker (1992) 8′
ensemble
• atrium vestae (music, poetry; 1991) 2′
2vln, va, vc
• pietá (German; poem: Rainer Maria Rilke; 1991) 1′
2 low female voices
• als kind wist ik in te zullen slapen (music, poetry; 1991) 2′
2vln, va (or: vln, 3 low female voices)