biography (continued 1)

In the period 1986-92 he came in touch with the American composers Morton Feldman and John Cage, who caused crucial changes in his development. There are also a number of distinct extramusical influences by artists such as William Burroughs, Samuel Beckett, Joseph Beuys and Italo Calvino.

compositions
Since 1993 Richard Rijnvos concentrates on the realisation of compositions that are part of larger series. The work Stanza, for instance, exists in a diatonic, chromatic and microtonal version. Between 1995 and 2000 he created the eighty-minute cycle Block Beuys. Modelled on the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt collection with the same name, which consists of objects by the German visual artist Joseph Beuys, he dedicated a piece of music to each of its seven rooms. La Serenissima is the title of a series of works dealing with ‘the city of Venice en her shadows’. Between the outer movements (acqua alta for harp and 9 instruments and mappamondo for voice, tuba and ensemble) various works will follow. In addition Richard Rijnvos is working on the completion of a large-scale dance production about ‘urban life in New York City’. This series include the orchestral works Times Square Dance, Washington Square Dance, and Union Square Dance, as well as Grand Central Dance, Central Dance in the Park and ’cross Broadway for piano and chamber orchestra. (These last three compositions can be combined in a concert performance, thus forming a piano concerto entitled NYConcerto). In 2007 Richard Rijnvos started a new series called Riflessi, which consists exclusively of companion pieces. Each Riflesso explores the same exceptional scoring of an existing classic by a composer from the past.