Musical Minutes

Music

As a composer as well as performing artist the connection with the audience is at the core of how I approach my music.  Why this music, who is it for, how does this music contribute in the larger sense?
For me, music reflects on the essence of life. In both composing and performing I try to get to the core of the musical notes; with what intention are you expressing, where does it lead to? I have a fascination for exploring timbres and the intentions you can find expressing those.  The relation of, and between the movement of voices creates moments that can reflect and express a world that I personally find hard to capture in words. Music is about making connections and the ability to communicate at a deeper, perhaps spiritual level.

With this in mind, I compose music for both film and documentaries, as well as art projects.

As a performing artists, one of the things I love doing is live improvisation. Whetter at a concert, reflecting on the atmosphere in the room; but also to musically summarise a workshop or lecture; what has been said, what was the experience of the participants, the vibe in the room, to capture this in music, on the spot.

Improvisation for Piano and Trumpet.

Trumpet - Mikko Pettinen, Piano - Merlijn Angad Gaur

Music for me,
has always been of essential value in life.

As a teenager I studied harpsichord with Klaas Stok (currently conductor at the Nederlands Kamerkoor and Principal Director of the NDR choir) before switching to piano.  I started studying jazz piano at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with the renowned Dutch jazz veteran Rob van Kreeveld, among others. During that time I was also associated as a dancer with the Netherlands Historical Dance and Theater Ensemble with whom I have toured through the Netherlands and abroad and also composed the original music for the music-theater production De Reis van de Liefde, which premiered in Nagasaki, Japan.

However, it was my early fascination as a kid with leaders and jingles of films and television series that made me embark on the journey of composing music for film and documentaries, originally in the partnership Wise Man’s Child, today under my own name.  Nowadays I focus more on independent commissioned projects that could be described more as modern classical music, with a touch of jazz influence.

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Untitled 1

Violin - Novilė Maceinaitė , Piano - Merlijn Angad Gaur

Project Summary

Meditation – composition for the Finish Female Choir Pihlaja (2023); Improvisations – collaboration with Mikko Pettinen (2023); Artists and Lives of Clay – compositions for the Finish Female Choir Pihlaja (2022); Cultivating The Heart – mediation music for the Stanford Medicine Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education compassion course; Lang Leve de Koning – documentary by Kees-Jan Husselman (2022); Untitled – composition for violin and piano (2021); Novibirra – commercial series (2020); Seize the Day – original song for Jon Tarifa (2019); Fingerprints in the Mountains – documentary by Eric Vander Borght (2019); 20 Years In Our Lives – short by Eric Vander Borght (2017); Het Vergeten Getto – documentary by Saskia van den Heuvel (premiere Eye Amsterdam 2016);  Shades of Grey – documentary by Saskia van den Heuvel (nominated for Golden Calf Best Short Documentary 2010); Winter Silence – feature film by Sonja Wyss (winner Golden Calf 2008 Best Sound Design; world premiere at Forum Berlinale, 59th International Film Festival Berlin 2009); Lisa’s adem – short film by Tamar van den Dop (2008); Eis Frei – short film by Ivan Barbosa (premiered at the 37th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2008); Hope and Expectations – short film by Digna Sinke (2005); De Reis van de Liefde – original score music theatre production celebrating 400 years of trade relations between the Netherlands and Japan (premiere Nagasaki 2000)

“For me,
music reflects
on the essence of life.”

Merlijn Angad Gaur

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