Rozalie Hirs facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rozalie Hirs
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Katrien Rozalie Hirs |
| Born | 7 April 1965 Gouda, Netherlands |
| Genres | Contemporary classical, experimental poetry |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, poet |
| Instruments | voice, piano. Composer for: orchestra, ensemble, electroacoustic, spoken voice, vocal |
| Years active | 1997–present |
Rozalie Hirs (born 7 April 1965) is a Dutch composer of contemporary classical music and a poet. She creates music and poems that make you think about listening, reading, and using your imagination.
Contents
About Rozalie Hirs
Rozalie Hirs started playing piano at age 12 and singing at 17. She went to high school in Germany and the Netherlands. Later, she studied chemical engineering at the University of Twente and earned her Master's degree in 1990. While studying science, she sang in operas and even wrote songs for her band, Boolean.
Music Studies and Teaching
From 1991 to 1998, Rozalie Hirs studied how to compose music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. She learned from famous composers like Louis Andriessen. She earned a Master of Music degree there.
She continued her music studies in New York at Columbia University from 1999 to 2002. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2007.
Rozalie Hirs has also taught music composition at different schools. She taught at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. She also taught creative writing.
Rozalie Hirs's Music
Rozalie Hirs is a very active composer. She has worked with many famous groups, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Radio Filharmonisch Orkest.
How She Creates Music
Rozalie Hirs uses a scientific approach when she composes. She looks at how sounds work and uses math in her music. But even with all the science, she always focuses on how the music sounds to the listener. Her music often explores the different parts of a sound, like a rainbow of sound.
She uses special effects in her music, like the "Cocktail party effect". This is when you can focus on one voice in a noisy room. She also explores "combination tones," which are extra sounds you hear when two notes are played together.
Microtones in Her Music
Most music uses 12 notes, like the keys on a piano. This is called "equal temperament." But Rozalie Hirs likes to use even more notes, called "microtones." Imagine having tiny notes in between the regular notes!
She creates her music using a continuous range of frequencies, not just the standard notes. This means she can use very precise pitches. When she writes music for instruments, she often uses quarter tones (half of a half-step) or even smaller differences.
She also uses electronic sounds in her music. These electronic sounds use the exact frequencies she calculates. They help the musicians know how to play their instruments to match her precise pitches. So, the electronic sounds are part of the music and also a guide for the performers.
Musical Works
Orchestral Music
- Book of mirrors, for chamber orchestra (2001)
- Platonic ID, for chamber orchestra (2005–06)
- Roseherte, for symphony orchestra, electronic sounds (2007–08)
- Ain, silabar ain, for jazz orchestra (2013)
- Lichtende Drift, for string orchestra (2014)
- Atlantis ampersand, for chamber orchestra, choir, electronic sounds (2015)
- The honeycomb conjecture, for large ensemble, electronic sounds (2015)
- lightclouds, for large ensemble, electronic sounds (2019)
- avatar, for orchestra (2022)
- bron, for symphony orchestra (2023)
Ensemble Music
- Sacro Monte, for ensemble (1997)
- a-book-of-light, for ensemble, electronic sounds (2003)
- Little whale and the ice, for ensemble (2010)
- Venus [evening star] [invisible] [morning star], for percussion sextet, electronic sounds (2010)
- Zenit [north] [east] [south] [west], for string quartet (2010)
- Arbre généalogique, for soprano, ensemble, electronic sounds (2011)
- Nadir, for string quartet, electronic sounds (2014)
- parallel world [breathing], for ensemble, electronic sounds (2017)
- parallel sea [to the lighthouse], for ensemble, electronic sounds (2018)
- dreams of airs, for voice, ensemble, electronic sounds (2017–18)
- hand in hand, for soprano, string quartet (2020)
- artemis, for soprano, ensemble, electronic sounds (2022)
- adonis blue, for string quartet (2023)
- charms, symmetries, for ensemble (2024)
Chamber Music
- article 0 [transarctic buddha], for percussion solo (2000)
- article 1 to 3 [the] [aleph] [a], for piano solo (2003)
- article 4 [map butterfly], for violin solo (or viola solo) (2004)
- article 5 [dolphin, curved time], for soprano solo (2008)
- article 7 [ways to climb a mountain], for bass clarinet, electronic sounds (2012)
- article 6 [waves], for electric guitar, electronic sounds (2013)
- article 8 [infinity], for flute, electronic sounds (2014)
- Infinity Stairs, for flute, electric guitar, bass clarinet, electronic sounds (2014)
- On Tenderness, for piano & electronic sounds (2017)
- meditations, for piano & electronic sounds (2017)
- article 10 [prismes], for violoncello solo (2021)
- bee sage, for violoncello, contrabass clarinet (2023)
Music with Spoken Voice
- Slaaplied voor een duivel, for narrator & music box (1994)
- In LA, for six spoken voices or spoken voice & soundtrack (2003)
- A throwaway coincidence that determined everything, for spoken voice & soundtrack (2004)
- Klangtext, Textklang, for spoken voice & live electronics (2004)
- Van het wonder is word, for spoken voice & soundtrack (2005)
- Aan de zon, de wereld, for spoken voice & soundtrack (2006)
- Pulsars, movement IV, for spoken voice & soundtrack (2006–07)
- Vlinders, gras, for spoken voice quartet (2007)
- Poetry pieces I-III [heaven bleak] [dolphin] [family tree], for spoken voice & soundtrack (2008)
- Curved space, for spoken voice, ensemble & live electronics (2009)
- Bridge of Babel, for spoken voice & soundtrack (2009)
- Curvices, ten compositions and an interlude for sound app (2013)
- In state of [war], for twelve voices (2013)
- Tijd en sintel, for spoken voice, 31-tone organ & soundtrack (2016)
- dreams of airs, for voice, ensemble & soundtrack (2017–18)
- all that green and blue, for voice & soundtrack (2022)
Electronic or Electroacoustic Music (without live performers)
- For Morton Feldman, electroacoustic (2000)
- Geluksbrenger, electronic music for website (2008)
- Pulsars, movements I-III, V, electroacoustic (2007)
- Interlude for Curvices, electroacoustic (2013)
- Hilbert’s Hotel, 31-tone MIDI controlled player organ, electronic sounds (2015)
- Luisterhuis, electroacoustic composition for architectural installation/sculpture (2017)
- Ways of Space, quadrophonic electronic music composition for sound sculpture (2019)
Rozalie Hirs's Poetry
Rozalie Hirs's poetry often plays with sounds and has many layers of meaning. This means readers can choose how they want to understand her poems. This idea of multiple meanings is a special part of her poetry, connecting it to her music.
Early Poetry
Rozalie Hirs first shared her poetry in 1991. Her first poetry book, Locus, was published in 1998. In this book, she writes poems from the point of view of characters from Greek myths or old stories. She also refers to movies, plays, and other poems.
Her second book, Logos, takes the reader on a journey through the human body. It even has a drawing of the body that helps you navigate the poems! This book explores how our bodies connect us to the world, and how language itself can be like a living thing.
Her third book, Speling (which means Leeway), explores the space between words and their meanings. It's a very musical collection, with some poems that are clear and others that are more mysterious. One long poem, In LA, is like a musical score about music and memory.
Later Poetry and Style
In her later books, like Geluksbrenger (Lucky Charm, 2008) and gestamelde werken (work in stuttering, 2012), Rozalie Hirs continues to develop her unique style. She creates poems with many meanings at once, giving readers lots of ways to experience them.
Her book gestammelte werke (2017) is special because it includes her poems in Dutch, German, English, and Spanish, along with translations into many other languages. Her work has been published in many poetry collections and magazines around the world.
Her book ecologica (2023) is about climate change. She uses poetry to talk about this important topic, mixing the beauty of words with the urgency of protest.
Digital Poetry
Rozalie Hirs also creates "digital poetry" by working with artists and designers. This includes projects like Logos online (2003) and Curvices app (2013).
Her Lucky charm online project (2011) includes poems, recordings, and music. It also has interactive apps that let you see how your choices affect the text as you read. This helps show how reading is an active process, where you are always creating the text as you go.
Discography
- R. Hirs: Sacro Monte (CD single; 1999)
- R. Hirs: In LA (CD single; 2003)
- R. Hirs: Platonic ID (portrait CD; 2007)
- R. Hirs: Pulsars (portrait CD; 2010)
- R. Hirs: article 7 (2012), part of Ladder of Escape 11 (2014)
Personal Life
Rozalie Hirs is married to the Dutch architect Machiel Spaan. They got married on February 14, 2007, and live in Amsterdam.
