Antonius Gerhardus Michael Koopman (; born 2 October 1944), known professionally as Ton Koopman, is a Dutch

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

, organist,

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

, and musicologist, primarily known for being the founder and director of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir. He is a professor at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of L ...

. In April 2003 he was knighted in the Netherlands, and received the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Biography

Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ (with Simon C. Jansen), harpsichord (with Gustav Leonhardt), and musicology at the Amsterdam conservatory. He specialized in Baroque music and received the Prix d'Excellence for both organ and harpsichord. In the organ, he never learned how to play with heels and toes, and because of his short height, always plays with his toes on the pedalboard. This is an authentic Baroque practice. Koopman founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992, now combined as the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir. Koopman concentrates on Baroque music, especially that of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

and is a leading figure in the "authentic performance" movement. While a number of early-music conductors have ventured into newer music, Koopman has not. He has said, "I draw the line at

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

's death" (1791). One exception is his recording of the Concert Champêtre of

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kn ...

, written in 1928.

Bach cantatas project

Among Koopman's most ambitious projects was the recording of the complete cycle of all of

Bach's cantatas This is a sortable list of Bach cantatas, the cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. His almost 200 extant cantatas are among his important vocal compositions. Many are known to be lost. Bach composed both church cantatas, most of them fo ...

, a project completed in 2005. This project had started while Koopman was an artist of the French

Erato Classics Erato Records is a record label founded in 1953 as Disques Erato by Philippe Loury to promote French classical music. Loury was head of éditions musicales Costallat. His first releases in France were licensed from the Haydn Society of Boston, ...

label. However, after 12 volumes (36 CDs) the project was stalled when owner Warner Classics wound up its French subsidiary in 2002. Koopman was able to buy back rights for the first 12 volumes and continue the series in 2003 with his own label Antoine Marchand, distributed by Challenge Classics. "Antoine Marchand" is a French translation of his own name. Soloists for the project were among others Lisa Larsson,

Cornelia Samuelis Cornelia Samuelis (born 1972) is a German classical soprano who has performed in opera, oratorio, lieder and chamber music both in her native Germany and internationally. Her many recordings as a soprano soloist include Bach's ''St Matthew Passion' ...

, Sandrine Piau, Sibylla Rubens, Barbara Schlick, Caroline Stam, Deborah York and Johannette Zomer (soprano), Bogna Bartosz, Michael Chance,

Franziska Gottwald Franziska Gottwald (born in Marburg) is a German mezzo-soprano singer in opera and concert. Career Franziska Gottwald received her first voice training at the age of 16 with Eugen Rabine and studied voice at the Academies of Music in Saarbrü ...

, Bernhard Landauer, Elisabeth von Magnus, Annette Markert and Kai Wessel (alto), Paul Agnew,

Jörg Dürmüller Jörg Dürmüller (born 28 August 1959 in Bern) is a Swiss classical tenor in concert and opera. Biography Dürmüller studied violin and voice at the conservatory of Winterthur and took voice master classes with Edith Mathis, Christa Ludwig a ...

, James Gilchrist,

Christoph Prégardien Christoph Prégardien (born 18 January 1956) is a German lyric tenor whose career is closely associated with the roles in Mozart operas, as well as performances of Lieder, oratorio roles, and Baroque music. He is well known for his performances an ...

and Gerd Türk (tenor) and Klaus Mertens (bass).

Buxtehude project

In addition to the works of Bach, Koopman has long been an advocate of the music of Bach's teacher and predecessor,

Dieterich Buxtehude Dieterich Buxtehude (; ; born Diderik Hansen Buxtehude; c. 1637 – 9 May 1707) was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal ...

. He had previously recorded the keyboard works for Philips Classics and several cantatas for Erato. He was elected president of the "International Dieterich Buxtehude Society" in 2004. Following the completion of the Bach cantatas project Koopman then embarked on a recording of the complete works of Buxtehude. In 2005 he commenced Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia, a project to record the complete works of

, which he finished in October 2014.

Other projects

Besides his work with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, he is in frequent demand as guest conductor and as harpsichordist and organist. In 2011, Koopman began a three-year stint as artist-in-residence with the Cleveland Orchestra. His aim is always to achieve authenticity in performance, using historical instruments from the time of the composer, and/or exact copies of them, often using historic musical temperaments, and adopting the performing style of the composers or their contemporaries. The scholar (and fellow keyboardist/conductor) John Butt has criticised Koopman's interpretation of Bach's

Goldberg Variations The ''Goldberg Variations'', BWV 988, is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also h ...

for its overuse of ornamentation, which he attributes to a desire to differentiate his interpretation from those of Gustav Leonhardt.

Personal life

Koopman is married to Tini Mathot, who is also a harpsichordist and fortepianist, and the two frequently perform together. Mathot is also his chief recording producer, as well as a teacher at the Royal Conservatory. On 11 October 2012 the documentary ''Live to be a hundred – a year in the life of Ton Koopman'' was released in Dutch cinemas.

Discography

Koopman's extensive discography includes the complete

cantatas and organ works, '' St Matthew Passion'' (twice) and '' St John Passion'', '' Mass in B minor'', '' Christmas Oratorio'', a recording of his own reconstruction of the lost '' St Mark Passion'', concertos and harpsichord works by Bach,

Sweelinck Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck ( ; April or May, 1562 – 16 October 1621) was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard com ...

's complete keyboard works, the complete works of

Buxtehude Buxtehude (), officially the Hanseatic City of Buxtehude (german: Hansestadt Buxtehude, nds, Hansestadt Buxthu ()), is a town on the Este River in Northern Germany, belonging to the district of Stade in Lower Saxony. It is part of the Hamburg ...

, Haydn's complete harpsichord concertos,

's Coronation Mass, Vespers and Requiem, a cycle of Mozart and Haydn symphonies. He conducts 8 soloists, Nancy Zijlstra, Barbara Schlick, soprano, Klaus Mertens, Peter Kooij, bass, Dominique Visse, Kai Wessel, countertenor,

, Harry Van Berne, tenor and The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra for « ''Les Motets à double Chœur »'' H.403, H.404, H.135, H.136, H.137, H.392, H.410, H.167 by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, (2 CD Erato 1992),

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespre ...

's '' The Four Seasons'',

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his train ...

's ''

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

'' and Organ Concertos. Koopman has received many prizes for his recordings.

Notes

References

Interview

Reviews

Biography at Leiden University

Article at Leiden University

Other article at Leiden University

On-Line meeting

IMDb website of the Documentary Live to be a Hundred

External links

– official website

Weblog

Ton Koopman's guest page and recorded sessions at U-Sophia, where minds meet on-line

17 June 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Koopman, Ton 1944 births Dutch conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Dutch choral conductors Dutch harpsichordists Dutch classical organists Male classical organists Clavichordists Dutch performers of early music People from Zwolle Living people Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Conductors (music) awarded knighthoods Musicians awarded knighthoods Bach conductors Bach musicians Royal Conservatory of The Hague faculty Leiden University faculty Winners of the Royal Academy of Music/ Kohn Foundation Bach Prize 21st-century conductors (music) 21st-century organists Erato Records artists