Reinbert de Leeuw (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 8 September 1938 - Amsterdam, 14… Read Full Bio ↴Reinbert de Leeuw (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 8 September 1938 - Amsterdam, 14 february 2020) is a Dutch conductor, pianist and composer.

He studied music theory and piano at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and composition with Kees van Baaren at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague
He taught at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. He is a well-known conductor and pianist performing mainly contemporary music. He is the founder of the “Dutch Charles Ives Society”. Since 2004 he is a professor at the Leiden University in “performing and creative arts of the 19th, 20th and 21st century".
In 1974 he founded the Schönberg Ensemble. They focus on performing works by the Second Viennese School. For the strings of the ensemble he composed the piece Etude (1983–1985). This is his most recent composition. Since then he has only made adaptations and instrumentations.
Reinbert de Leeuw regularly conducts the Netherlands' major orchestras and ensembles, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New Sinfonietta Amsterdam, Residentie Orchestra The Hague and ensembles such as the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the ASKO and the Netherlands Wind ensembles and the orchestras of the Dutch Radio. In the 1995-96 season he was the centre point of the 'Carte Blanche' series in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He is involved in the organization of the series 'Contemporaries' at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
He is a regular guest in most European countries (France, Germany (incl. Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra), England, Belgium)) and the United States (Tanglewood Festival, New World Symphony, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Group New York, Aspen and the St. Paul’s Chamber Orchestra in Minneapolis, and lectures at the Juilliard School of Music in New York), Japan and Australia. Reinbert de Leeuw has been involved in various opera productions at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam as well as with the Nederlandse Reisopera. Productions include works by Strawinsky (a.o. The Rake’s Progress), Andriessen (Rosa - A Horse Drama; Writing to Vermeer), Ligeti (Le Grand Macabre), Vivier (Rêves d’un Marco Polo), Zuidam’s opera Rage d‘Amours and Britten's The Turn of the Screw. In 2011, De Leeuw conducted Schoenberg's monumental Gurre-Lieder, which was the realisation of an old ambition of his.
He was in 1992 guest artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival and from 1994–1998 artistic director of Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. De Leeuw was artistic advisor for contemporary music with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and from 2001 to 2010 he served as artistic leader at the Nederlandse Orkest- en Ensemble-Academie (NJO; Dutch Orchestra and Ensemble Academy).

Awards
On the occasion of his 70th birthday, Reinbert de Leeuw was decorated with Knight of Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Compositions

Orchestral
1965 Interplay for orchestra
1971–1973 Abschied, Symphonic poem for large orchestra
2013 Der nächtlige Wanderer, Symphonic poem for large orchestra

Works for wind band
1970 Hymns and Chorals

Vocal music
2003 Im wunderschönen Monat Mai - Dreimal sieben Lieder nach Robert Schumann

Chamber music
1962–1963 Quartetto per archi
1983–1985 Etude for string quartet

Piano works
1964 Music for piano I
1966 Music for piano II