Jan Van der Roost | Composers

Jan Van der Roost was born in Duffel, Belgium, in 1956. He studied trombone, history of music and musical education at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (Louvain) and continued his studies at the Royal Conservatoires of Ghent and Antwerp, where he qualified as a conductor and a composer.

At present, he teaches at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (Belgium) and is guest professor at the "Shobi Institute of Music" in Tokyo and at the "Nagoya University of Art" (Japan). Besides being a prolific composer, he is very much in demand as an adjudicator, lecturer, clinician and a guest conductor: his increasing musical activities brought him to more than 35 different countries in 4 continents, whereas his compositions are being performed and recorded in more than 50 nations worldwide. Early 2001, a full CD containing 4 of his works for Chamber Orchestra was released with EMI Classics while the Slovakian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) recorded 3 of his compositions in the same period, released early 2003 by the German label "Valve-Hearts". The same label will bring out another "classical" CD with exclusively his compositions, containing solococnertos for Trumpet, Guitar and Horn.

His list of works shows a wide variety of genres and styles, including e.g. 2 Oratorios, a Symphony and some smaller works for Symphony Orchestra, a Guitar Concerto (dedicated to Joaquin Rodrigo), a Concerto for Trumpet and String Orchestra (dedicated to and commissioned by the Norwegian virtuoso Ole Edvard Antonsen), a Double Concerto for 2 Clarinets and String Orchestra (dedicated to Walter and Anne Boeykens), a cyclus of "Lieder" (= "Songs") for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra, works for Strings or Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Music, numerous Brass and Wind Band compositions (including a 3 movement Symphony for large Wind Band), Choral Music, Instrumental Solos etc ... Many of these compositions have been broadcast on radio and TV in various countries and most of them have been recorded on CD by reknowned performers all over the world. Jan Van der Roost exclusively composes commissioned works, till now coming from such countries like Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, the USA, Japan, France, Singapore, Norway, Germany, Finland, and Hungary.