DINA APPELDOORN - THE NETHERLANDS
BORN 26 DECEMBER
Christina Adriana Arendina (Dina) Koudijs-Appeldoorn was a Dutch composer and pianist whose works, such as her two symphonic poems Noordzee-symfonie and Volkfeest, were written in the Romantic style. She also had a predilection for programme music, as is evidenced by her four movement suite Woudsproke.
Her works for amateur singers and choruses have been described as energetic. In them, Appeldoorn used simple tonal melodies and set the texts predominantly syllabically. In contrast, her accompaniments show a spicy harmonic language filled with dissonances which illustrate the text, such as in Frissche bloemen.
Dina Appeldoorn attended the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she studied composition under F.E.A. Koeberg and later with Johan Wagenaar. The later would become a close friend whom she would continue to consult throughout her life. She graduated the conservatory in 1910, at which time twenty of her songs had already been published. Her early work met with mixed reviews from Dutch music critics with some pieces, like Frissche bloemen, getting better reviews than others. Appeldoorn would later become a piano teacher at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.
After her studies, Appeldoorn began her career as a piano accompanist for various choirs in The Hague. Ultimately, though, she found herself drawn more toward her composition background. Many of her early songs were first performed by a quintet she founded with the soprano Lena van Diggelen. Other singers who have performed her work include Julie de Stuers, who gave several recitals outside of the Netherlands featuring Dutch composers. Appeldoorn dedicated her Vondel-liederen to Stuers.
The Utrecht City Orchestra debuted her first major work, the symphonic poem Pêcheurs d’Islande, in 1912. In 1923, one of her compositions was awarded a prize by the Nederlandsche Volkszang-bond in Utrecht. This was Jubileum-lied, which she wrote for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands’ 25th anniversary. In 1925, the Utrecht City Orchestra premiered another one of her works, her Noordzee-symfonie. Throughout the 1920s, Appeldoorn also wrote choral works for the popular community singing evenings in The Hague of the Nederlandse Vereniging voor den Volkszang, conducted by Arnold Spoel.
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Pastorale by Dina Appeldorn
Pastorale by Dina Appeldorn
CAROLINE CHARRIÈRE - SWITZERLAND
BORN 26 DECEMBER
Caroline Charrière was a Swiss composer, conductor, flautist and educator. From 2000 on she concentrated on composing, creating chamber music, choral music and orchestral pieces. In 2001, she established her reputation as a composer with the oratorio Le livre de Job (The Book of Job) for mixed choir, bass, soprano and orchestra. Her works have since been performed widely in Switzerland and abroad.
Born in Fribourg on 26 December 1960, Charrière studied transverse flute at the Lausanne Conservatory under Pierre Wavre, earning diplomas in teaching (1982) and concert performance (1984). She also began studying orchestration and composition in Lausanne under Jean Balissat, followed by post-graduate study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. She received her orchestral conducting diploma from the Lausanne Conservatory in 1994.
Charrière taught the flute at the Fribourg Conservatory, established the "Choeur de Jade", a female choir, became the director of other Fribourg choirs and composed her own works. As a result of increasing interest in her compositions, in 2000 she decided to concentrate first and foremost on composing.
In August 2017, Charrière won the second prize in the "Aufbruch" contest for female composers for her composition Awakening for wind quintet (two trumpets, a horn, a trombone and a tuba). The contest is jointly organized by the publisher Furore Verlag and Zentrum Militärmusik der Bundeswehr (the German Army Military Music Centre).
Charrière died on October 1, 2018 at the age of 57.
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Contrastes by Caroline Charrière
Contrastes by Caroline Charrière
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