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Lambertus Reiner "Reinbert"de Leeuw (8 September 1938 – 14 February 2020) was a Dutchconductor,pianist andcomposer.
Lambertus Reinier de Leeuw's mother and father were both psychiatrists: Cornelis Homme 'Kees' de Leeuw (1905-1953) and Adriana Judina 'Dien' Aalbers (1908-1957). From age 7, he took piano lessons. He studiedmusic theory and piano at theAmsterdam Conservatoire and composition withKees van Baaren at theRoyal Conservatory of The Hague.
He taught at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. He was a well-known conductor and pianist performing mainlycontemporary music. He was the founder of the “DutchCharles Ives Society”. Since 2004, he was a professor at theLeiden University in 'performing and creative arts of the 19th, 20th and 21st century'.
In 1974, he founded theSchönberg Ensemble.[1] They mainly focused on performing works by theSecond Viennese School and the avant-garde. He composed the pieceEtude (1983–1985) for the strings of the ensemble.
De Leeuw regularly conducted the Netherlands' major orchestras and ensembles, including theRoyal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New Sinfonietta Amsterdam,Residentie Orchestra The Hague and ensembles such as theNetherlands Chamber Choir, theASKO, theNetherlands Wind Ensemble, and the orchestras of the Dutch Public Radio. In the 1995–96 season, he was the centre point of the 'Carte Blanche' series in theConcertgebouw Amsterdam. He was involved in the organization of the series 'Contemporaries' at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.[2]
He was a regular guest in most European countries (France, Germany including theBerlin Philharmonic Orchestra, England, Belgium) and the United States (Tanglewood Festival,New World Symphony,Lincoln Center Chamber Music Group New York, inAspen, and theSt. Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minneapolis, and lectured at theJuilliard School of Music in New York), in Japan and Australia.
De Leeuw was involved in various opera productions at theDutch National Opera in Amsterdam as well as with theNederlandse Reisopera. Productions included works byStravinsky (The Rake’s Progress),Louis Andriessen (Rosa - A Horse Drama;Writing to Vermeer),György Ligeti (Le Grand Macabre),Claude Vivier (Rêves d’un Marco Polo),Robert Zuidam (Rage d‘Amours) andBenjamin Britten (The Turn of the Screw). In 2011, De Leeuw conductedSchoenberg's monumentalGurre-Lieder, which was the realisation of an old ambition of his.
In 1992, he was guest artistic director of theAldeburgh Festival and from 1994–1998 artistic director of Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. De Leeuw was artistic advisor for contemporary music with theSydney Symphony Orchestra, and from 2001 to 2010, he served as artistic leader at theNederlandse Orkest- en Ensemble-Academie (NJO; Dutch Orchestra and Ensemble Academy).
He is particularly noted for his shows and recordings ofErik Satie's works. He recorded an album,Socrate, withBarbara Hannigan, a Canadian contemporary opera singer, consisting of largely forgotten works by Erik Satie.
On January 13, 2020, he held his last concert inMuziekgebouw aan 't IJ.[3] On February 14 of the same year, he died at his home in Amsterdam, aged 81, survived by his brothers, Kees and Hans de Leeuw.[4]
On his 70th birthday, de Leeuw was made a Knight of theOrder of the Netherlands Lion.[5]
Perhaps de Leeuw's most notable and stunning recordings are those of early piano music of Erik Satie. De Leeuw recorded mostly forPhilips,Koch orNonesuch. One of his last studio recordings was, however, for Alpha Classics: a piano-accompanied reading ofFranz Liszt's own late and devotionalVia Crucis, reflecting De Leeuw's faith. He had previously recordedVia Crucis twice, in the 1980s for Philips and in 2012 for Etcetera.
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