Bram Van Camp

Bram Van Camp (Antwerp °1980) graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp (2003)where he studied the violin, chamber music, composition, music analysis, counterpoint andfugue. He studied composition under Wim Henderickx (1998-2005) and Theo Loevendie (2003-2005) at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. His works contain solo and chamber music, ensembleworks, orchestral music (including a symphony ‘Tetrahedron’), a Violin Concerto, a PianoConcerto and 2 song cycles (‘The Feasts of Fear and Agony’, for soprano and ensemble, and‘Träume’ for mezzo-soprano and orchestra).He has received many prizes for his work as a composer: in 1999 he won the AquariusComposition Competition with ‘Rhapsody for violin and orchestra’. In 2002 he won the BAPprize (Belgian Artistic Promotion) awarded by SABAM, for his ‘Trio for clarinet, viola and piano’(2000). His String Quartet (2004) and his ‘The Feasts of Fear and Agony’ (2012) were selectedfor the ISCM Catalogue (International Society for Contemporary Music). In 2007 he won the‘Jeugd en Muziek Prijs voor Compositie’ (Youth & Music Award for Composition) and in 2014 hisString Quartet (2004) won the second prize at the International Composition Contest ‘New Note’in Croatia. ‘Music for 3 instruments was selected’ for the ISCM World Music Days 2018 in Beijingand he was awarded with the KLARA and the SABAM For Culture Award ‘Composer of the Year’(2019).His compositions were commissioned by a.o. the Queen Elisabeth Competition (compulsorywordk Semi-Final for Violin 2019), the 'Festival of Flanders', the TRANSIT New Music Festival,'deSingel' (Antwerp) and the Ars Musica Festival. His works are performed by (among others)the Arditti Quartet, Hermes Ensemble, I Solisti, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the FlandersSymphony Orchestra, Het Collectief, Oxalys, Blindman Collective, Wibert Aerts, Piet Van Bockstaland Jan Michiels. Furthermore, his works are performed in various Belgian concert houses,including deSingel and Amuz (Antwerp), de Bijloke (Ghent), BOZAR (Brussels) and theConcertgebouw Brugge. His work was also programmed in London and at the AmsterdamConcertgebouw, France, Croatia, Denmark, Slovakia and China.His portret cd (including ‘The Feasts of Fear and Agony’, ‘Music for 3 instruments’ and‘Improvisations’) recorded by Het Collectief in 2013 (Fuga Libera) was higly praised at homeand abroad, including 5 stars in Diapason (Fr) and The Gramophone (GB).In creating his music Bram Van Camp always strives for a style with an intuitive starting point inwhich each note can still be explained within its own consistent system. He always keeps amusical and organic sounding result in mind. In this way, his composition system does notconstitute a goal in itself, but is used as a means to a natural sounding essence: the actualorganic music. To him composing is a quest in which he always tries to renew his stylecompared to his previous compositions. On the philosophical level a clear similarity with GyörgyLigeti can be detected. His stylistic roots originate from Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky and AlbanBerg.Because of his penchant for natural, organic musical freedom, his music is often influenced byjazz music.Bram Van Camp is guest professor of composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp andprofessor at the Music Academy of Merksem (Antwerp). He is also the initiator of ‘The Times’, aforum for young composers organized by the Hermes Ensemble, where he acts as coach eachyear.