Dirk Luijmes & Leo van Doeselaar

Dirk Luijmes, who took conservatory degrees in organ, harpsichord and church music and a university degree in musicology, is active in various fields in the music world. He won prizes at a number of (inter)national organ contests, including the European Organ Improvisation Competition. In recent decades he got known as one of very few musicians in the world who perform professionally on the harmonium. More than twenty-five composers have written compostions for him, including Willem Breu­ker, Daan Manneke and Guus Janssen. As a performing musician he has appeared from New York to Vilnius (Lithuania) and from Santiago de Chile to Bergen (Norway). He has worked with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the RIAS Chamber Choir, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and ensembles including Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the ASKO-Schönberg Ensemble and Oxalys.

Luijmes has collaborated in various special productions, including the world premiere of the 1919 version of Stravinsky’s Les Noces, performed for the Dutch Royal Family. He has played in the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Musikverein (Vienna) and the Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires). In 2010 he gave the American premiere in New York’s Carnegie Hall of Martijn Padding’s First Harmonium Concerto, dedicated to him and accompanied by the ASKO-Schönberg Ensemble directed by Reinbert de Leeuw. Luijmes is artistic director of Stichting Longen & Tongen, is active as a text writer for the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and for many years produced programmes for Dutch radio. He has recorded various CDs, including a suite by Froberger that he discovered himself. His recording of Padding’s Harmonium Concerto with ASKO-Schönberg received an Edison Award in 2011. The CD on which he accompanies Capella Amsterdam in Janacek’s Otce nas was likewise crowned with an Edison. His 4-cd box Harmonium Atlas (spring 2019) got many good reviews in Dutch quality papers. As a clavichord player Luijmes premiered in 2019 Padding’s Clavichord concerto ‘This is a loud world’.

Dirk Luijmes, who took conservatory degrees in organ, harpsichord and church music and a university degree in musicology, is active in various fields in the music world. He won prizes at a number of (inter)national organ contests, including the European Organ Improvisation Competition. In recent decades he got known as one of very few musicians in the world who perform professionally on the harmonium. More than twenty-five composers have written compostions for him, including Willem Breu­ker, Daan Manneke and Guus Janssen. As a performing musician he has appeared from New York to Vilnius (Lithuania) and from Santiago de Chile to Bergen (Norway). He has worked with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the RIAS Chamber Choir, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and ensembles including Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the ASKO-Schönberg Ensemble and Oxalys.

Luijmes has collaborated in various special productions, including the world premiere of the 1919 version of Stravinsky’s Les Noces, performed for the Dutch Royal Family. He has played in the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Musikverein (Vienna) and the Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires). In 2010 he gave the American premiere in New York’s Carnegie Hall of Martijn Padding’s First Harmonium Concerto, dedicated to him and accompanied by the ASKO-Schönberg Ensemble directed by Reinbert de Leeuw. Luijmes is artistic director of Stichting Longen & Tongen, is active as a text writer for the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and for many years produced programmes for Dutch radio. He has recorded various CDs, including a suite by Froberger that he discovered himself. His recording of Padding’s Harmonium Concerto with ASKO-Schönberg received an Edison Award in 2011. The CD on which he accompanies Capella Amsterdam in Janacek’s Otce nas was likewise crowned with an Edison. His 4-cd box Harmonium Atlas (spring 2019) got many good reviews in Dutch quality papers. As a clavichord player Luijmes premiered in 2019 Padding’s Clavichord concerto ‘This is a loud world’.

Leo van Doeselaar

Leo van Doeselaar studied the organ with Albert de Klerk and piano with Jan Wijn at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory. After obtaining his solo degrees, he was awarded the Prix d’Excellence in organ. Upon the completion of his conservatory training, he specialized in the organ repertoire of the Baroque, following several international courses; he also studied French organ repertoire in Paris under André Isoir and took fortepiano lessons with Malcolm Bilson and Jos van Immerseel. 

Leo van Doeselaar appears frequently in concert throughout Europe and the United States; he has also appeared as a soloist and teacher at numerous important Early Music festivals, including those of Flanders, Utrecht, York, Saintes, Berlin, San Antonio and Moscow.

He has performed as organ soloist with various orchestras and conductors including Ernest Bour, Riccardo Chailly, Jean Fournet, Ingo Metzmacher, Mariss Jansons, Frans Brüggen and David Zinman.

He has appeared as a continuo player with many baroque ensembles including those led by Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, Sigiswald Kuyken, Gustav Leonhardt and Andrew Parrott.

In addition to these activities, he is a dedicated chamber music performer on both historic and modern pianos.

He also partners Wyneke Jordans in a widely acclaimed duo-piano team, using both historical and modern instruments. The duo frequently appears in concert and has also recorded a dozen CDs for the Etcetera, Challenge Classics and Globe labels.

As an organist, Van Doeselaar has also made recordings on CD for various different labels, including the first complete recording of the organ works of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel. His discography further lists organ music on historic organs by Scheidemann (Echo KLASSIK 2014 and ‘Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2013’), Mozart, Krebs, Joh.Seb.Bach, Anth. van Noordt, Jan Pzn. Sweelinck and organ works by Franz Liszt and César Franck.

He was the organ soloist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Chailly, in Paul Hindemith’s Kammermusik no. 7, recorded by Decca. This recording received a Grammy Award.

In 1993, on the occasion of the dedication of the restored Concertgebouw organ, Leo van Doeselaar was the soloist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Maestro Chailly.

At the Concertgebouw he played the world premieres of Organ Concertos by Sofia Gubaidulina, Franco Donatoni, Tristan Keuris and Wolfgang Rihm.

In 1995 he was appointed professor of organ at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.

In addition, he is titular organist of the famous Schnitger-organ of the Martinikerk in Groningen as well as titular organist of the Concertgebouw. In 2007, Leo van Doeselaar received the prestigious ‘Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck’ Award for his merits for the organ culture.