Hendrik Bouman
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Hendrik ("Henk") Bouman (born in 1951) is a Dutch virtuoso harpsichordist, fortepianist, conductor and prolific contemporary composer of music written in the baroque and classical idioms of the 17th & 18th Century. His baroque and classical compositions, his basso continuo realisations and improvisations have become a reference in the field of european early music.
In 1993, with over 18 years as performer, researcher and professor in this vast field of early music, Hendrik Bouman embarked on an innovative artistic endeavour, that of composing new music in baroque and classical idioms according to the high standards prevalent in the 17th & 18th century. This was for him a natural development, a logical consequence of the ongoing revival of baroque music to which he had so intensely contributed. In creating his new baroque compostitions, Hendrik Bouman plays upon the wealth and diversity of various European national idioms and their many typical musical forms of expression which spanned a period of approximately two hundred years.
Verily a renaissance man, Hendrik Bouman, also culling the tactile and auditory experience of playing on museum instruments over the years, has designed and built his harpsichords on which he often plays and records his baroque compositions.
He studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Ton Koopman. As original harpsichordist of Musica Antiqua Köln (1976-1983) he toured Europe extensively, performed in major international festivals and under the auspices of the Goethe Institute was invited on four world tours. He made numerous recordings as basso continuo player, duo partner and soloist for European radio stations, EMI and for DGG Archiv. Several of these recordings have been awarded the highest distinctions: Edison Prize (Netherlands); twice Deutscher Schallplattenpreis (Germany); six times Diapason d’Or (Paris); twice Répertoire Recommandé (Paris); Early Music Award (London). Noteworthy, the ensemble set new standards in baroque performance and recorded baroque repertoire recovered through the extensive musicological research engaged in by Hendrik Bouman and his colleagues.
Hendrik Bouman made his orchestral conducting debut in the world première of the Mass by Alain Pièrard in the Basilique de Notre Dame, Montréal Canada in 1985. The following year he founded the period orchestra Les Nations de Montréal which he directed in 1987 in the world première (20th century) of the opera Amadis de Gaule for the Tricentenary of Lully with soloists and choir of the Atélier de l'Opéra de l'Université Laval, which was broadcast 'live' by Radio Canada International and subsequently in France, Switzerland and Belgium. He made his American conducting debut leading the Portland Baroque Orchestra and Choir in performances of Handel's The Messiah in 1990.
During his career Hendrik Bouman has appeared in duo with renowned international vocalists: Rossana Bertini, Max van Egmond, Emmy Kirby, Suzie LeBlanc, Carolyn Watkinson, and instrumental solists: Hajo Bäss, Brian Berryman, Reinhard Goebel, Wilbert Hazelzet, Jaap ter Linden, Marie Leonhardt, Chantal Rémillard, Jean-François Rivest, Claudio Ronco. He also appeared as soloist with Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot in Bach's multi-harpsichord concertos. He has collaborated with conductors Ivan Fischer, Philippe Herreweghe, Christopher Jackson, Jean Lemon and Peter Neumann.
In 1993 Hendrik Bouman first introduced improvisation in his recital at the Festival Domaine Forget in Québec which was recorded live by Radio Canada. His world première debut as Composer-Performer of his contemporary baroque music took place in South Africa in 1994. Since 1999 in Europe and Canada he has led his ensemble Concerto Felice in world premières and a recording (CBC/Radio Canada) of his chamber and orchestral compositions.
Hendrik Bouman has composed 75 works in baroque and 18th century classical idioms for: solo instrument - harpsichord, piano, organ, clavichord, cello solo, violin solo, flute solo, recorder solo ; chamber music - quartets, trio (music)s and sonatas; orchestral works - symphony, ouverture and suite, harpsichord concerti, recorder concerto; cello concerto; vocal - arias (opera).
His composition HRH Princess Diana's Ground for the "Queen of Hearts" was chosen for a televised tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, on the Canadian national CBCTV News' and broadcast on September 3, 1997. Menuet du Matin which Hendrik dedicated to ZKH Prins Willem Alexander ZKH Prins Willem Alexander was chosen as a theme for Radio Canada's daily classical music program "Les Bonheurs de Sophie" in September 1998. His CDs Little Notebook for Anna I & II of his baroque and classical compositions for harpsichord and piano, which he dedicated to his muse Anna, received a Socan Foundation award (Canada) for the distribution of the double CDs to radio broadcasters world wide in 1998. He was also recipient of grants from the Canadian government for performing world premières of his new baroque and classical compositions.
Hendrik Bouman has performed his compositions in world premières in Europe, Canada, South Africa and India in solo recital, in duo with baroque violinist Hajo Bäss, flutist Brian Berryman, cellist Ifan Williams, and recorder player Ambikaprasad Mallik and with his ensemble Concerto Felice. Hajo Bäss premiered in Canada and France the Fantaisie pour violon seul, of twenty minutes duration, which Hendrik had composed specifically for him. Hendrik Bouman also composed the music, directed the solists and choir and played the harpsichord in the Aurovilian production of Molière's Le Malade Imaginaire in India.
Radio France/France Musiques, Radio Canada, CBC & CBCTV and ATV recorded entire programmes of Hendrik Bouman performing his own baroque compositions and improvisations in recital or with his ensemble Concerto Felice. Additionally, over the past years, Canadian radio and television, and the press have presented a variety of feature portraits of him as virtuoso harpsichordist / composer / performer /instrument builder.
Hendrik Bouman has also made 20 transcriptions of works by François Couperin, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Georg Philipp Telemann, and by J.S. Bach including two Brandenburg Concerti in a version for two harpsichords and an orchestration of his Italian Concerto, several of which he has premièred in Canada and Europe.
He was festival director of Rendez-vous con Hendrik Bouman (Italy 1992), the Halifax 1749 Baroque Festival (Nova Scotia 1999) and Baroque by the Sea (Prince Edward Island 1999/2004) dedicated to the performance of contemporary baroque and classical composition.
In addition to his many recordings for DGG Archiv, he has also recorded for EMI, REM/Radio Canada, Baroque Nouveau. Several CDs of Hendrik Bouman in recital on harpsichord and fortepiano, presenting both his solo compositions as well as some of his favourite repertoire of the great masters, are in preparation. Schott has published some of Bouman's basso continuo realisations.
Hendrik Bouman's world tours have brought him to India, South Africa, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uraguay, Columbia, Boliva, Peru, Mexico, USA, and Canada as well as throughout Europe. He has performed at major international festivals: Festival de Wallonie (Belgium), Musica e Poesia Milano, Festival de Mozart de l'Opéra de Montréal (Prestige Concert), Festival Musique Baroque de Versailles, Festival Domaine Forget (Québec), Festival de Québec, Les Concerts Populaires d'Éte de la Ville de Montréal, Holland Festival, Festival Oude Muziek (Holland), Festival of the City of London, Festival of Perth (Scotland), Festival Estival Paris, Festival de Besançon, Festival van Vlaanderen (Belgium), Berliner Festwochen, Berliner Bachtage.
Former professor of harpsichord at Concordia University and Université Laval in Québec, he gives specialized workshops, masterclasses and lecture demonstrations in performance practice, improvisation and composition for keyboard players, other instrumentalists, vocalists and chamber music ensembles.
Hendrik Bouman has travelled extensively with his wife Anna and their children. He has lived at various times in Holland, Germany, Italia, France, Québec, Atlantic Canada and India. He enjoys delving into the culture, language and music of esteemed colleagues and congenial neighbours, and thereby continuously enriching his musical universe.
An avid sailor and cartoonist, Hendrik Bouman enjoys sailing with his wife Anna and their children in the Mediterranean, Les Antilles, the Bay of Bengal, and the St. Laurent River in Québec.
