Ewald Kooiman facts for kids
Ewald Kooiman (born June 14, 1938, in Wormer, North Holland, and passed away on January 25, 2009, in Hurghada) was a very talented Dutch organist. He studied the organ in Amsterdam with Piet Kee and also learned from Jean Langlais in Paris. Besides being a musician, he was also a professor who taught Romance languages.
A Master of the Organ
Ewald Kooiman was famous for recording all the organ music written by Johann Sebastian Bach not just once, but twice! He used special organs from Bach's time for these recordings. He even started a third recording project using historic Silbermann organs in Alsace. Sadly, he passed away before he could finish this last project.
Teaching Future Organists
Kooiman loved to share his knowledge. He taught organ at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. He also taught at the International Summer Academy for Organists in Haarlem. He was especially good at teaching students how to play Bach's organ music just like it would have sounded long ago. Some of his students include Jos van der Kooy and Christine Kamp.
Sharing Knowledge
Ewald Kooiman was also a visiting professor. This means he taught at many different universities in Europe, South Africa, and Korea. He also helped edit and publish more than 50 collections of organ music, mostly from the 17th to 19th centuries. He was known around the world as an expert in "historically informed performance." This means he knew how to play old music exactly as the composer intended, using the right instruments and styles from that time. He wrote many books and articles about how to play Bach's music and other organ-related topics.
Ewald Kooiman passed away suddenly from a heart attack while on a holiday trip to Egypt on January 25, 2009.
