Category: musical works

contents 1. listen 2. summary 3. programme notes 4. details 5. performances listen Listen to the recording of bee sage (2023) by Rozalie Hirs, performed by Fie Schouten and Katharina Gross, on the eponymous CD Bee Sage via Bandcamp. The CD also features compositions by Andrikopoulos, Rotaru, Saariaho, and Tüzün. […]

avatar (2022) is the new orchestral work by Rozalie Hirs, commissioned by philharmonie zuidnederland. The music is dedicated to the memory of Louise Farrenc.

→ Nederlands contents 1. programme notes, review 2. technical details: orchestration, other technical requirements, duration, publisher 3. performances programme notes Rozalie Hirs: lightclouds (2019) lightclouds (2019) is inspired by so-called noctilucent clouds (Deutsch: leuchtende Nachtwolken; Nederlands: lichtende nachtwolken; Français: nuages noctulescents), a metereological phenomenon of high clouds, that seem to […]

Press photgraphs of Rozalie Hirs by Sara Anke Morris, Bianca Sistermans, Marco Borggreve, Richard Ayres, Patrick Post|Hollandse Hoogte, Philip Mechanics. All rights reserved by the photographers ©1998-2018.

parallel sea [to the lighthouse] (2018) by Rozalie Hirs, commissioned by ASKO|Schönberg with support of the Dutch Performing Arts Fund, is scored for flute, clarinet, French horn, trumpet, 2 harps, 2 percussionists, electronic sounds, violin, viola, cello, and double bass.

contents 1. program notes 2. technical details: orchestration, technical requirements, duration, publisher 3. performances program notes program notes [English; German below] meditations for piano and electronic sounds (2017) was premiered by Philip Thomas at the Dutch contemporary music festivals November Music (Den Bosch) and Sounds of Music (Groningen) in November […]

parallel world [breathing] (2017) by Rozalie Hirs, commissioned by Concertgebouw Orchestra and University of Amsterdam, with support of the Dutch Performing Arts Fund, is scored for flute, clarinet, 2 harps, percussion, electronic sounds, violin, viola, and cello.

the honeycomb conjecture for large ensemble and electronic sounds (2015) by Rozalie Hirs is a commission by Philharmonie, Essen, Germany, for Festival NOW! Prismen. The instrumentation consists of 2 flutes, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, 2 French horns, 2 trumpets, bass trombone, 2 percussionists, keyboard, piano, 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, double bass.

lichtende drift for string orchestra (2014) by Rozalie Hirs is a commission by Amsterdam Sinfonietta, dedicated to its artistic director Candida Thompson. With financial support of the Netherlands Performing Arts Fund.

Music composition for string quartet and electronic sounds. World premiere by Bozzini Quartet and Arne Bock (sound projection in the hall)
November Music, Muziekcentrum De Toonzaal, Den Bosch, The Netherlands, 8 November 2014, 19:00 CET.

article 8 [infinity] (2014) by Rozalie Hirs is a microtonal composition for flute and electronic sounds. Its highly lyrical melodies are enveloped by electronic glissandi that move along in several large waves. article 8 [infinity] (2014) investigates the overtone realms of the solo works article 7 [ways to climb a mountain] (2012) and article 6 [waves] (2013) for bass clarinet and electric guitar respectively. The three pieces can be played either separately as solo works, or in conjunction, i.e. simultaneously, as the trio infinity stairs (2014).

Venus (2010) by Rozalie Hirs is a spatialized music composition for six percussionists and six-channel electronic sounds. It consists of three movements [evening star], [invisible], and [morning star]. Venus (2010) was commissioned by Slagwerk Den Haag, with support from the Eduard van Beinum Foundation. It was first performed around the BACH Pavilion, designed by architect Zaha Hadid, at Holland Festival in 2010.

“At the other end of history came the world premiere of Rozalie Hirs’ engrossing string quartet, Zenit, played by the superb new L.A.-based Formalist Quartet. Everything I might say about Hirs’ unsettled music I could also say the opposite. It is also quite settled. It forges ahead with tentative sounds and silences. It stops and starts yet flows. It has a hint of hard-hitting Dutch Minimalism, yet it offers a feast of radiant string harmonics, pulsating outside of rhythm.” (Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times)

Roseherte (2008) is a composition for symphony orchestra (ninety players) and electronic sounds, commissioned by Nederlandse Muziekdagen with financial support of Netherlands Performing Arts Fund.

Platonic ID (Amsterdam: Attacca Productions, 2007) is the first full-length portrait CD of Rozalie Hirs (*1965) with instrumental works: works for solo instruments (violin, piano, percussion) and for ensemble. The works for ensemble were commissioned by Asko|Schönberg, formerly known as Asko Ensemble. All works were financially supported by Netherlands Performing Arts Fund.

platonic id for ensemble (2005, 2006 rev) is a music composition by Rozalie Hirs. The piece sets out with Plato’s so-called “world soul”, as described in his Timaeus. More concretely, it can be understood musically as several harmonic series with partial numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 27. The harmonic world of platonic id consists of these resounding overtone series, as well as their corresponding undertone series, built on different fundamentals. Further materials come from the harmonic relationships between sounding overtones on string instrument and their respective fingerings, on strings of different lengths.

article 1 to 3 for solo piano (2003) by Rozalie Hirs, was commissioned by Kees Wieringa.

contents 1. listen 2. programme notes 3. technical details 4. performances listen Rozalie Hirs · Rozalie Hirs – article 0 [transarctic buddha] (2000) program notes article 0 [transarctic buddha] for percussion solo (2000) is a journey across the ancient, bold, cold head of a stone buddha – a journey around […]