On 8 August 2025, the portrait album Infinity Stairs (2025) by Rozalie Hirs was released. It includes new recordings of her chamber and solo compositions. Listen to the full album on Spotify or Apple Music.
Category: ensemble
charms, symmetries (2024)
22 August 2024. charms, symmetries (2024) by Rozalie Hirs is a new music composition for saxophones (soprano saxophone, 2 alto saxophones, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, in various combinations), trombone, vibraphone, piano and electric (bass) guitar. The piece was commissioned by Ensemble Klang. In Memoriam Louis Andriessen (1939-2021).
artemis (2022) for soprano, ensemble, electronic sounds
artemis (2022) by Rozalie Hirs is a new composition, based on her own poetry, commissioned by Donaueschingen Festival. The soprano Keren Motseri performs its world premiere together with ensemble ascolta on 15 October 2022 during Donaueschingen Festival, Germany.
hand in hand (2020) for string quartet and soprano
Rozalie Hirs composed hand in hand (2020) for soprano and string quartet, based on her own poetry. This commission from Kulturkreis für Neue Musik Heilbronn is inspired on the life and ideas of the German poet Hölderlin. The world premiere takes place on his two-hundred-and-fiftieth birthday, a day later followed by a performance next to his birthhouse in Lauffen am Neckar, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
lightclouds (2019)
→ 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 […]
dreams of airs (2017-18)
dreams of airs (2017-18) is a cycle of poetry and music by Rozalie Hirs. Its sound world features eight musicians, a singer who speaks, and electronic sounds. The new full-length composition by the Netherlands-based composer/ poet Rozalie Hirs offers a unique listening experience. The listener is guided through mesmerizing accelerandos and rallentandos in a lounge-like environment. The combination of spoken word, music, and visuals serves to stimulate various senses at once. The visual artists Boris Tellegen and Geert Jan Mulder designed a live video installation for the performance. The duration of the performance is around 60 minutes.
![parallel sea [to the lighthouse] (2018)](https://rozalie.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/190524-RozalieHirs-parallel-world-and-sea-ASKOSchoenberg-Reinbert-de-Leeuw-Muziekgebouw-Andriessen-Festival-768x576.jpeg)
parallel sea [to the lighthouse] (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.
the honeycomb conjecture (2015)
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.
atlantis ampersand (2015)
atlantis ampersand (music, text; 2015) by Rozalie Hirs is a composition for large ensemble and choir. Commissioned by Holland Festival for the world premiere performance by Klangforum Wien and Enno Poppe (conductor).
lichtende drift (2014)
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.
arbre généalogique (2011, 2025 rev.)
Rozalie Hirs’ arbre généalogique (2011) is her first major work for lyrical soprano and large ensemble, expanding her exploration of harmony, timbre, and form through poetry and song. Setting her own poem ‘Stamboom’ (“family tree”) — in Henri Deluy’s French translation — Hirs creates a meditative sound world where ancestry and memory unfold through music.
venus (2010)
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.
platonic id (cd, 2007)
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 (2005-06, revised 2024)
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.
sacro monte (1997, cd 1999)
Rozalie Hirs’ sacro monte for ensemble (1997) was commissioned by La Nuova Arca, Turin, for the concert series ‘Il Suono dei Parchi’. During the Autumn of 2007, Ensemble Antidogma performed it at seven natural reserves in Piemonte, northern Italy.