Donemus Webshop — Brewaeys, Luc

Luc Brewaeys was born on August 25, in 1959 in Mortsel (Belgium) and passed away on December 18, in 2015.

Education: He studied composition with André Laporte in Brussels (Belgium), with Franco Donatoni in Siena (Italy) and with Brian Ferneyhough in Darmstadt (Germany).

Career: From 1998 to 2000, Luc Brewaeys was professor of composition at the Conservatory in Gent. He was also a conductor and pianist, and had been working as a recording producer at the VRT since 1985.

Compositions: Luc Brewaeys received many commissions in Belgium and abroad. His works include among others 8 Symphonies, 2 String Quartets, Chamber and Solo pieces, some electro-acoustic (& mixed) works and one Chamber Opera ‘Antigone’. Luc’s music can best be described as "spectral symphonic" with (especially in more recent works) lyrical accents.

From 2002 to 2005 he recomposed the complete two books of the ‘Préludes for piano’ by Claude Debussy on commission of the Royal Flanders Philharmonic.
His most recent works include ‘Eppur si muove’ for ensemble (2014), ‘Ni fleurs ni couronnes: Monument pour Jonathan Harvey’ for violin with ghost-violins and -bells (2013) and ‘Fêtes à tensions: (les) eaux marchent’ for 20 players’ (2012).

Awards: Luc Brewaeys was awarded several prizes and distinctions. For example, he was awarded the First Prize in the category of young composers of the International Rostrum of Composers of the UNESCO for ‘.., e poi c’era...' Symphony n° 1 in 1986. Ten years later, the Belgian Musical Press awarded him two Prizes for the recording of his (up to then) entire symphonic work by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, conducted by Arturo Tamayo, who conducted most of his music. For his entire work, he received the "Prix de Musique Contemporaine du Québec" in 1988 and the Cultural Prize "Blanlin-Evrart" from the Catholic University of Leuven in 1999.

Luc was composer in residence of the International Cultural Center deSingel for the '88-'89 concert season and of the “Dicht bij huis” in Tilburg (The Netherlands) in 2001. From 1991 to ’92, he was composer in residence of the city of Saint-Nazaire (France) and for the season 2003-04 at the BOZAR in Brussels. In February-March 2009, he was in residence in Montréal, where he gave Masterclasses at the McGill University, at the Université de Montréal and at the Conservatoire.

Brewaeys was also one of the main featured composers at the Ars Musica Festival in 2004 and central composer of the "November Music” in 2007. In February 2007, his first opera (‘L'uomo dal fiore in bocca’), commissioned by the Belgian National Opera "La Monnaie", got its widely acclaimed premiere in Brussels. Besides, he was invited by the Cantus Ansambl in Zagreb for workshops and a performance of "Cardhu" as part of the Re:new music project in 2009.

In December 2008, Luc Brewaeys had been elected as member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, and in October 2009 as appointed guest professor of composition at the Conservatory of Rotterdam (The Netherlands).