Peter Kooij (or, internationally Kooy, born 1954, in
Soest) is a Dutch
bass singer
A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E b ...
who specializes in
baroque music
Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...
.
Biography
Kooij started his musical career at 6 years as a choir boy. However he started his musical studies as a violin student. He came back to singing, with tuition from
Max van Egmond
Max van Egmond (born 1 February 1936 in Semarang) is a Dutch bass and baritone singer. He has focused on oratorio and Lied and is known for singing works of Johann Sebastian Bach. He was one of the pioneers of historically informed performance of B ...
at the
Sweelinck Conservatorium in
Amsterdam which led in 1980 to the award of the diploma for solo performance.
His international career started in 1981 under the direction of
Philippe Herreweghe, with
La Chapelle Royale and the
Collegium Vocale Gent, with whom he interpreted mainly
Johann Sebastian Bach, and also performed
Henri Dumont,
Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...
,
Heinrich Schütz and
Jean Gilles.
From the mid-1990s much of his career was dedicated to the recording of Bach's complete
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, t