Lectures, Courses, Workshops

I have given many lectures, courses and workshops about all kinds of subjects related to composing. Here are some titles:

Subconscious awareness of form. How a given excerpt of music can provide information on a subconscious level about the form of the composition which it is a part of.

– Setting words to music, for solo voice(s) and / or choir. About various ways how this can be done.

Orchestration beyond the theory of instruments. Actual orchestration begins where the theory of what is possible with the various instruments of an orchestra ends. About colour combinations and balance, and about the relation between composing and orchestrating.

Lecture during the WASBE Conference in Prag, July 2016

– Originality and the connection with the quality of a composition. The meaning of the word originality from the perspective of the root of the word: origen, compared to the meaning that is generally attached to this word in art circles. See also my article Busoni’s Garden.

Influence as a positive phenomenon. The importance of imitation.

Instrumentation for wind orchestra, from the perspective of orchestration for symphony orchestra.

Conducting during a composition course in the Bayerische Musikakademie Alteglofsheim, January 2007

– Orchestration errors in famous 20th century compositions. Like in Strawinsky’s Sacre du Printemps and Firebird, Prokofiev’s Third Symphony and Janacek’s Taras Bulba.

– Music and spirituality. See also my article with the same title.

– The Song Cycle Children of Gaza. About the background story and the Palestinian melodies that are used in the songs.

Presentation about the Children of Gaza Song Cycle in Amersfoort, January 2018

in preparation, for a lecture in Stift Ossiach, March 2018:
– To what extent can what Plato tells us about the Good, the True and the Beautiful be translated into concrete technical terms
A summary of this lecture can be read here.

For invitations or inquiries about lectures, courses or workshops, please contact me.