Reinbert de Leeuw
Born in Amsterdam in 1938, Reinbert de Leeuw is a distinguished conductor of contemporary music (Messiaen, Kagel, Gubaidulina, Górecki, Schönberg, Webern), a brilliant pianist (his are the legendary interpretations of Erik Satie) and a recognized composer. In 1974 he founded the Schönberg Ensemble, a chamber orchestra of which he is the music director and conductor to this day. He was artistic director at the Aldeburgh festival (1992) and at the Tanglewood festival of contemporary music (1994-1998). On top of concerts, de Leeuw also conducted a number of opera productions with De Nederlandse Opera and De Nationale Reisopera. The 2003 premiere of Im wunderschönen Monat Mai: Dreimal sieben Lieder nach Schumann und Schubert, arranged by him, was first of many enthusiastically received performances of this piece by Schönberg Ensemble and the German actress Barbara Sukova. In 2002 De Leeuw received the coveted Edison Award for the first album of the Ligeti Project series. He won it again in 2008 for the Im wunderschönen Monat Mai CD. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Utrecht in 1994.