Hendrik Bouman (Harpsichord, Fortepiano, Conductor, Composer)

Born: 1951 - The Netherlands

The Durtch harpsichordist, fortepianist, conductor and composer, Hendrik [Henk] Bouman, studied in the late 1970’s, at the Amsterdam Conservatory with several of the pioneers of the Baroque revival, notably Ton Koopman and Lucy van Dael, and followed master-classes, with Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Max van Egmond.

Hendrik Bouman was principal harpsichordist of the baroque ensemble Musica Antiqua Köln from 1976 to 1983, with whom he toured worldwide under the auspices of the Goethe Institute and recorded extensively for DGG Archiv and numerous European radio stations.

Formerly professor of harpsichord and fortepiano at Concordia University and the Université Laval in Quebec, Hendrik Bouman also taught historically informed performance practice and chamber ensemble. He has given master-classes in Europe, Canada, United States of America, South America, Mexico and India.

Hendrik Bouman first introduced Baroque improvisation into his recital in 1993 at the Festival Domaine Forget in Quebec at the request of Radio Canada and his baroque compositions in a broadcast by CBCTV 'Compass' in Maritimes Canada in 1994. The CBC/Radio Canada - Toronto, Moncton, Halifax and CBCTV Halifax and ATV Halifax Canada have broadcast numerous 'live' premiere performances of his works as well as 14 feature portraits.

Hendrik Bouman has made 16 transcriptions of works by François Couperin, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Georg Philipp Telemann, and J. S. Bach, including two Brandenburg Concerti in a version for two harpsichords and an orchestration of J.S. Bach's Italian Concerto (BWV 971) as well as several adaptations in baroque style of Christmas Carols commissioned and recorded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC Radio Charlottetown) in 1994. Schott has published some of his basso continuo realisations.

Hendrik Bouman made his conducting debut in the première of the mass by Alain Pierard at the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal in 1985. The following year he founded the period orchestra Les Nations de Montréal, which he directed in 1987 in the 20^th Century premiere 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. The concert was broadcast 'live' by Radio Canada and subsequently by Radio France and Swiss Radio. He made his American conducting debut with the Portland Baroque Orchestra and Choir in performances of George Frideric Handel's Messiah in 1990.

Hendrik Bouman received several grants from Canada, Italy and France for his innovative work as composer-performer of period music and as founding-director of the Festivals: Rendez-vous con Hendrik Bouman (Italy) 1992, Halifax 1749 Baroque (Canada) 1999, Baroque by the Sea (Maritimes Canada) 1999 & 2005, the Baroque SaMuse Concert Series (Montréal, Canada) 2006-2007, as well as a sponsorship from Berkeley Homes, UK for his Baroque by the Sea Concert Series (Sussex, UK) 2009; concert series predominantly dedicated to the performance of his Baroque and classical compositions, period improvisations, as well as historical repertoire and his transcriptions thereof.

During his career Hendrik Bouman has appeared in duo with renowned artists: Nancy Argenta, Hajo Bäss, Brian Berryman, Max van Egmond, Reinhard Goebel, Wilbert Hazelzet, Grégoire Jeay, Matthew Jennjohn, Mireille Lagacé, Marie Leonhardt, Jaap ter Linden, Matthias Maute, Susie Napper, Heiko ter Schegget, Simon Standage, Carolyn Watkinson and Ifan Williams. He has also collaborated with renowned conductors and soloists Rossana Bertini, Iván Fischer, Philippe Herreweghe, Christopher Jackson, Emma Kirkby, Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot, Jeanne Lamon, Gino Mangiocavalli, Nigel Rogers and Michael Schopper.

Hendrik Bouman has received many awards for his 25 recordings of which there are more than 45 re-editions, for DGG/Archiv, EMI, REM/Radio Canada, Baroque-Nouveau, notably: the Edison Prize (Netherlands), 3 Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Artist of the Year by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie and the career Prize for Young Artists from the Federal State of North-Rhine Westphalia (Germany), Le Grand Prix National du Disque, 6 Diapason d’Or, Répertoire Recommandé, 9-Repertoire; Diapason 5 (France), and the Early Music Award, Gramophone Award (England). He was recipient of the Canadian composers' SOCAN Foundation's CD Award, for the distribution to radio-broadcasters world-wide of his CD’s Little Notebook for Anna I & II, on which he plays his harpsichord and piano compositions. In 2011 ARYA released Hendrik Bouman's "5 Baroque Concertos for Anna" performed by The Baroque Muse of which Bouman is the founding director and Simon Standage the leader (concert master).

Hendrik Bouman has lived in his native the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, Quebec; Maritimes Canada and India. Since 2007 he lives with his family in Sussex, UK. He speaks French, English, Italian, German and Dutch. He is an avid sailor and cartoonist.

Activity as a composer

In 1993, with over 18 years as performer, researcher and professor in early music, Hendrik Bouman embarked on the composition of new music in Baroque and classical idioms according to the standards of the 17^th & 18^th century. This was for him a natural development of the ongoing revival of baroque music. In creating his new period style compositions, he employs various European national idioms and their many typical forms such as the sonata, concerto, ouverture and fugue. He first played his contemporary 'baroque' music in South Africa in January 1994 and his harpsichord solos were first recorded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in December that year.

Hendrik Bouman has composed over 100 works in 17^th and 18^th Century style for harpsichord; piano; clavichord; organ; violin solo; viola solo; flute solo; recorder solo cello solo; as well as quartets; trios; duets; sonatas; ouvertures; concerto grossos; harpsichord concertos; violin concerto; recorder concerto; flute concerto; oboe concerto; cello concerto; music for baroque theatre and a classical symphony.

Concerts dedicated to his music have been broadcast by CBC Toronto, Halifax, Moncton, ATV and CBCTV Maritimes, DT-Danish National Radio and Radio France/France Musiques. His Menuet du Matin dedicated to HRH Prince Willem Alexander of the Netherlands was chosen as a theme of Radio Canada's Les Bonheurs de Sophie in 1998, and CBC TV News broadcast his composition HRH Princess Diana's Ground, as tribute on September 1, 1997. His two CDs of solo compositions for harpsichord and piano dedicated to his wife Anna, Little Notebook for Anna I & II, were released in 1998 and distributed to radio-broadcasters worldwide by the SOCAN foundation (Canadian composers).

Hendrik Bouman has premiered over 2/3 of his compositions in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Canada, India and South Africa and his works have also beperformed in Italy, Germany and Sweden. He has premiered his orchestral and chamber music with his ensembles Concerto Felice, Baroque SaMuse and The Baroque Muse which he founded in 2009. He has performed his works also in solo recitals, in trio and in duo with flutists Brian Berryman and Grégoire Jeay; recorder players Heiko ter Schegget, Matthias Maute, Sophie Larivière, and Ambikaprasad Mallik; oboist Matthew Jennejohn; violinists Hajo Bäss, and Simon Standage; viol player Susie Napper; cellists Tormod Dalen and Ifan Williams. Hajo Bäss has premiered the Fantaisie pour violon seul, which was composed for him in 1999. Bouman premiered with Simon Standage the Classical Sonate for Violin and Piano in Bflat major which he composed for him in 2008. Bouman composed the music (which he directed from the harpsichord) for a production of Molière's Le Malade Imaginaire in Auroville, India in 2006. In March 2009 he inaugurated his concert series Baroque by the Sea, Eastbourne in the UK. In Brighton, Sussex, in the United Kingdom in November 2009 he premiered with his ensemble The Baroque Muse his compositions Harpsichord Concerto in D major - soloist Hendrik Bouman, Flute Concerto in E minor - soloist and dedicatee Grégoire Jeay, "Violin Concerto in D major" - soloist and dedicatee Simon Standage, Cello Concerto in A minor - soloist Tormod Dalen, and Recorder Concerto in C major - soloist Heiko ter Schegget. In April 2011 the CD, "5 Baroque Concertos for Anna", of Bouman's compositions, recorded by The Baroque Muse under Bouman's direction at Firle Place in Sussex UK, was released on Arya.

In August 2011 Hendrik Bouman directed members of the Orchestra of the 18^th Century in the premiere of his Concerto Grosso in G major - La Festa di Lucia which was commissioned to honour the Dutch violinist, Lucy van Dael, co-founder and formerly, leader of the Orchestra of the 18^th Century and Professor at the Amsterdam Conservatory and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

Hendrik Bouman is the first renowned composer/performer of Baroque music in two centuries to design and build the harpsichords on which he plays in concerts and recordings.

Hendrik Bouman is a member of the British Harpsichord Society, the British Clavichord Society, SACEM (France), ADAMI (France), and SPEDIDAM (France) as well as being a member of the period composers' guild, Vox Saeculorum.

Source: Hendrik Bouman Website; Wikipedia Website (December 2012)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (January 2013)

Hendrik Bouman: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works

Links to other Sites

Hendrik Bouman (Official Website)

Hendrik Bouman (Wikipedia)