Jan Van der Roost
Jan Van der Roost was born in Duffel, Belgium, in 1956. He studied trombone, music history 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. Today he teaches at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven, and serves as guest professor at the Nagoya University of Arts and guest professor at Senzoku Gakuen in Kawasaki. In 2013 he was appointed principal guest conductor of the Philharmonic Winds OSAKAN (Japan). Besides being a prolific composer, he is very much in demand as an adjudicator, lecturer, clinician and guest conductor. His increasing musical activities have taken him to more than 45 different countries on four continents, and his compositions are performed and recorded all over the world. In early 2001 a CD containing four of his works for chamber orchestra was released by EMI Classics, and the Slovakian Radio Symphony Orchestra recorded three of his compositions, which were released in early 2003 by the German label BT-Sound.
In early 2004 Phaedra Records released an all-Van der Roost album containing solo concertos for trumpet, guitar and horn. 2011 saw the release of three works by Van der Roost: Concerto Doppio (featuring Eddy Vanoosthuyes and Neshu Neshev on clarinet) by the Sofia Soloists on Aliud Records; the Polish Radio Choir recorded his Contemplations for Choir and Organ for Phaedra Records; and his four-part Chemical Suite for Trombone Quartet was released by the American label Navona Records (Parma Records) on the compilation CD Sculpting the Air.
On that same label a CD containing three of his orchestral works was released in 2013, performed by the St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Lande conducting. Van der Roost’s list of works represents a wide variety of genres and styles, including two oratorios, a symphony and some smaller works for symphony orchestra, a Guitar Concerto (dedicated to Joaquín Rodrigo whom he met in person in Madrid in 1993), a Concerto for Trumpet and String Orchestra (dedicated to and commissioned by the Norwegian virtuoso Ole Edvard Antonsen), a Double Concerto for Two Clarinets and String Orchestra (dedicated to Walter and Anne Boeykens), a cycle of Lieder for baritone and chamber orchestra, a Concerto for Clarinet and Symphony Orchestra, Images for Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra, a Singspiel, Once Upon A Time … for narrator, actors, children’s choir and wind orchestra, works for strings or chamber orchestra, chamber music, numerous brass and wind orchestra compositions (including a three movement symphony for large wind orchestra), choral music, and a variety of instrumental solos.
Many of these compositions have been broadcast on radio and television in various countries, and most of them have been recorded on albums by renowned performers. Jan Van der Roost has composed works commissioned by performers from Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, the United States, Japan, Spain, France, Singapore, Austria, Canada, Norway, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Hungary, Colombia, Croatia and the United Kingdom.