Karel Van Steenhoven

Biography

The recorder player and composer Karel van Steenhoven (born 1958 in Voorburg, Netherlands) studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Kees Boeke. After his solo exam in 1983, he continued his studies in composition with Robert Heppener and Tristan Keuris. Some of his compositions (Silent Danger and La Chanteuse et le Bois sauvage) have been recorded on CD by the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet. He is a founding member of this ensemble, with which he undertakes worldwide concert tours. Two of their CD’s have been awarded the Edison Prize. As a composer he has been represented by Schott-Verlag since 2008.

Van Steenhoven has participated in concerts and recordings with ensembles including Musica Antiqua Köln, The Academy of Ancient Music (conducted by Christopher Hogwood), Cologne Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Helmut Müller- Brühl) and with soloists from the Leipzig “Gewandhaus Orchestra”.

As a guest lecturer, Van Steenhoven has taught at the Urbino summer course,  and at the music academies in Berlin, Odense, Nuremberg and Zurich. He was an adjudicator at the International Moeck Recorder Competition in London in 1997 and, together with the composer Peter-Jan Wagemans, at the ARS Composition Contest 2006.

Since 1995 he has been professor of recorder at the University of Music Karlsruhe, and in 2013 he was appointed Visiting International Professor at the Guildhall School.

Listen to Night Song for soprano and alto recorder, by Karel van Steenhoven