Kees Wieringa


Kees Wieringa is a Dutch pianist, composer and cultural entrepreneur. He came to prominence for his performances of the Dutch composers Jakob van Domselaer, Daniel Ruyneman and Simeon ten Holt.

Biography

Kees Wieringa graduated from the Amsterdam Conservatory in Amsterdam in 1986. He has built an international career over the years with his piano recitals and compositions. He is known as an ambassador for the work of the Bergen composer Simeon ten Holt, and for supporting the music of Jakob van Domselaer Wieringa is someone looking for an adventure: "If there is a review over 'Wieringa reliable pianist' he feels terrible." Wieringa has received the award for original repertoire during the Berlage Competition for Proeven van Stijlkunst by Jakob van Domselaer. This work consists of nine compositions performed by Van Domselaer and Nelly van Doesburg during meetings of members the Bauhaus and DaDa art movements. The pieces represent the music written according to the ideas of the artistic movement called De Stijl.

Composer

In 2010, Kees Wieringa premiered the opera Drebbel. The main character of the piece is the Alkmaar-educated inventor Cornelis Drebbel , who was interested in themes of alchemy and spiritualism. "Wieringa was inspired by the early Baroque music with its polyphonic while emotional musical lines. Composers such as Monteverdi and Handel sound along while today intervals, chords and rhythms can be heard, reminding the minimal music of Philip Glass."

Entrepreneur

In the summer of 2007, the Mijzenfestival took place for the first time. Kees Wieringa explained that: "West Friezen are hard workers, but they are not sufficiently aware of the beauty of their habitat. I hope to change that, because I am convinced that you can change the world by improving your own environment. I wanted 'something' to do with music and theatre, with the Mijzenpolder as a backdrop. I wanted to contribute to the happiness of the people who live here. It inspired me to organize the first Mijzenfestival." Wieringa also formed the production company 2Kusten and is its artistic director. The three major theaters in North-Holland united in this production to improve the infrastructure of their theatre arts.

Museum director

In 2008, Wieringa was appointed director of the Provadja Theatre and as managing director of arts and cultural Center Yxie in the Netherlands. The centre was a place where people could learn about visual arts, film, theatre, music and poetry in the form of an ongoing festival that was characterized by an interdisciplinary program on varying themes. Kees Wieringa was director of the Kranenburgh Museum in Bergen, and since 2016 has been the director of the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum in Qatar.

Compositions