biography

Born 1964 in Tilburg (the Netherlands), Richard Rijnvos studied composition with Jan van Vlijmen and Brian Ferneyhough at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. After finishing these studies summa cum laude he received a DAAD scholarship with which he followed a postgraduate at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg (Germany). In the summer of 1994 he participated in the International Dance Course for Professional Choreographers and Composers in Bretton Hall (Wakefield, UK).

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. 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. The compositions acqua alta and mappamondo are part of a series which has as its main subject 'the city of Venice and her shadows'. There are more pieces to follow in this cycle. In addition he is working on the completion of a large-scale dance production about 'urban life in New York City'. This set includes the orchestral works Times Square Dance and Washington Square Dance, and several pieces for piano and