Siemon Edward Top (born 1 January 1972 in

Ommen Ommen () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city in the eastern Netherlands. It is located in the Vechte, Vecht valley of the Salland region in Overijssel. Historical records first name Ommen in ...

) is a Dutch

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. Top studied violin and composition with Peter-Jan Wagemans at the Rotterdam Conservatoire. He won the Dutch prize for composition in 1999. He also studied composition with Klaas de Vries. After his graduation he studied music theory and analysis at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. During the Dutch Music Days of 2004 he won the Henriëtte Bosmans Prize for his orchestra work ''Marble Sparks''.Society of Dutch Composers
Edward Top winner of the Henriëtte Bosmans Prize for 2004
/ref>Dame J
Muziekdagen, óók om te kijken
(Dutch: Music Days, also for viewing), ''

Haagsche Courant 250px, The former headquarters of the Haagsche Courant in Rijswijk The ''Haagsche Courant'' operated as an independent newspaper between 1864 and 2005 in The Hague and its suburbs. After it was acquired by the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) it is now p ...

'', January 13, 2004 He also won the 2003 Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

for his ''String Quartet Nr. 1''.Salvatore Martirano Award, Composition-Theory Division, School of Music
,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

Most of his music has been published by

Donemus Donemus (compounded from Documentatiecentrum nederlandse muziek) is the Dutch institute dealing with the documentation of contemporary music composed in the Netherlands. Originally a publisher of scores, between 1960 and 2000 Donemus also publish ...

in Amsterdam.

Selected works

* Stillpoint (1995) * Overwhelming Blankness of the Ultimate Meaninglessness of Tragedy (1996) * String Quartet Nr. 1 (1998) * Silk Execution (1999) * Symphony Gouden Draak (2000) * Sonate for violin and piano (2001) * Piano Trio "en weende hij bitter" (Dutch: And He Wept Bitterly) (2001) * String Quartet Nr. 2 "Das Lied der Schwermuth" (2002) * Most Beautiful Bird of Paradise (2003) * Marble Sparks (2004) * 34 - Concerto for

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

and

wind orchestra A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

(2006) * Jimmy (2007) *Concerto for violin and two orchestras (2007)Groot R
Nieuw vioolconcert Edward Top is topstuk
(Dutch: New violin concerto Edward Top is top piece), ''

Haarlems Dagblad The ''Haarlems Dagblad'' is a regional newspaper in Haarlem, Netherlands. It claims to be the oldest newspaper in the world still in printed circulation, although it was forced to merge with another Haarlem-based newspaper during the German occ ...

'', December 11, 2007

Honors and awards

* 1999 - Composition Prize, Rotterdam Conservatoire * 2003 - Martirano Award, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign * 2004 - Bosmans Prize, Netherlands Music Days, Utrecht * 2006 - Atahualpa Award, National University of Lanús, Buenos Aires * 2007 - New Millennium Award, Birmingham Conservatoire * 2008 - Toonzetters

References

External links

*
Edward Top at

Article on Top at Donemus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Top, Edward 1972 births Living people Codarts University for the Arts alumni Alumni of King's College London People from Ommen 20th-century Dutch classical composers 21st-century Dutch classical composers Dutch male classical composers 20th-century Dutch male musicians 21st-century Dutch male musicians