English:Johan Duijck (Q543449)

Johan Duijck is composer, pianist and conductor of the Flemish Radio Choir, the Academy of Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields Chorus and Ghent Madrigal Choir. He is regularly invited as guest conductor of renowned ensembles such as the Orquesta Sinfónica Real de Sevilla, the Irish National Chamber Choir, the European Youth Choir, the Danish Radio Choir, the Choir of the Spanish Radio and Television, the Dartington Festival Orchestra (UK), the Reykjavik Cathedral Choir (IS), the Coro de la Universidad de la República (UY), the Capilla Santa Cecilia (MX). As a composer Johan Duijck dedicates himself mostly to piano and choir music. Johan Duijck also has an excellent reputation in contemporary choral conducting and he is a professor of choral conducting at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Johan Duijck reveals an artistic versatility as a choir conductor, composer, pianist and teacher. He has become internationally renowned as director of the Flemish Radio Choir, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chorus (London), the World Youth Choir and the Ghent Madrigal Choir. Leading chamber and radio choirs throughout Europe and Latin America often invite him to be a guest-conductor. He regularly appears in masterclasses and juries for international choir festivals.

As a composer Johan Duijck concentrates on piano, organ and choral music. One can find his compositions on six CD’s, recorded by Phaedra (In Flanders’ Fields - www.phaedracd.com). His most important compositions are:

• choir, soloists and orchestra: the oratorio Dixit Dominus; the Cantatas Alma de la Música and A Mirror to St. Nicolas.
• concerti: Concierto del Alma (choir and piano); Cant Espiritual (choir, baritone, clarinet and cello).
• choir and organ: Paulus; Lauda Jerusalem; Salve Regina; Alma, búscate en Mí.
• choir and piano: Narcissus et Echo; Laudate pueri; Cantar del Alma.
• choir a cappella: Cantiones Sacrae in honorem Thomas Tallis; Missa Brevis.
• organ: Laudes organi.
• piano: The well-tempered pianist; Le Tombeau de Ravel; 4 Ballades.

Not only does Johan Duijck conduct and compose, he also greatly enjoys his first love: the piano. He graduated at the world-famous Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and won the prizes Günther, Pro Civitate, Tenuto, Ollin and Lefranc. In his recitals (‘from Bach to Ugró’), masterpieces from the music literature are alternated with forgotten gems and original finds.

Johan Duijck also has an excellent pedagogical reputation. He is a professor of piano and choral conducting at the Royal College of Music in Ghent (B) and at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona (E). He has passed on artistic training for piano and choral conducting to countless students in the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (B), the Dartington International Summer School (GB) and the Euskalerriko Abesbatzen Elkartea (E). His principal teachers were Peter Cabus (composition), Robert Steyaert (piano) and László Heltay (conducting). The Flemish Radio and Television broadcasted a fine portrait of Johan Duijck, concentrating on his most cherished values, called ‘Friendship and Music’.