|
The Dutch choral conductor, Gijs Leenaars, studied the piano, choral and orchestral conducting as well as singing in Nijmegen and Amsterdam.
Directly upon completing his studies he embarked on a collaboration with the Netherlands Radio Choir (Groot Omroepkoor) in Hilversum. From 2012 to 2015 he was the ensemble’s Principal Conductor, working with such leading conductors as
Mariss Jansons, Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Bernard Haitink and Valery Gergiev. Today he is regarded as one of the most exciting choral conductors of the younger generation. He is a regular guest conductor of the
Collegium Vocale Gent, Cappella Amsterdam and
Nederlands Kamerkoor and has also conducted orchestras including the
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Hague Philharmonic and Turin Philharmonic.
As of the 2015-2016 season Gijs Leenaars has taken up his post as new Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of
Rundfunkchor Berlin. Ever since he successfully cooperated with outstanding conductors such as
Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann,
John Eliot Gardiner and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In October 2017, he took over the musical direction for the genre crossing Concert performance LUTHER dancing with the gods with music by
J.S. Bach, Knut Nystedt and Reich in Berlins new Pierre Boulez Saal., the choir’s very first collaboration of
Rundfunkchor Berlin with the renowned director Robert Wilson. Moreover he directed a celebrated a capella programme in Autumn 2016 at the White Light Festival of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York as well as the choirs first-ever Tour through South America to Brasil, Chile and Argentina with the
Johannes Brahms and W.A. Mozart-Requiem as well as
L.v. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
One of his special interests is contemporary music: Gijs Leenaars conducted the Dutch premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Vigilia and prepared the choral works of
György Kurtág with the Netherlands Radio Choir for a complete recording under
Reinbert de Leeuw. His strikingly imaginative programming brings together the classics of the choral repertoire with seldom performed works from all periods. |
