Boudewijn
Buckinx [b. Lommel, Belgium. 28 March 1945] was dedicated to music
from an early age. Since 1963, he introduced a lot of new music to Flanders
with his group WHAM [dutch acronym for Working
Group for Contemporary and Topical Music], including music by Christian
Wolff, Cornelius Cardew and John
Cage. Cage was also the subject of his licenciate's thesis [musicology]
in 1972.
As a composer, he is a typical exponent of Postmodernism [1001 Sonates for violin and piano, 9 Unfinished Symphonies]. The series of 1001 Sonates in their totality were performed in Darmstadt [Germany] (1988), Brussels (1989), Ghent (1994) and Kiel [Germany] (1998). Special Buckinx concerts have been held in Ghent, Brussels and Kiel, and his music has also been performed at important festivals such as the Contemporary Music Week in Ghent [Belgium], the "Ferienkurse" in Darmstadt [Germany],the Tampere Biennale [Finland] and the North American New Music Festival in Buffalo [USA], Bucarest and Arad [Rumania]
In 1993 a 9-day Buckinx Festival was held in De Rode Pomp in Ghent. Buckinx composed four operas: a chamber opera Karoena [The Mermaid] in Russian (premiered in De Rode Pomp, Ghent, in 1995), his opera on the life and philosophy of Socrates (premiered in Ghent in 1997), Le Valchirie (performed by the Opera Class of the Music Conservatory in Antwerp in 1997), and the opera Van Alle Tijden, based on the mythological character of Reinaert (commissioned by Stichting Aa in Groningen, The Netherlands, and premiered there in May 1998). In 1998, Buckinx composed La Sonate de Vinteuil for mezzo soprano, piano and violin on texts by Marcel Proust. Also from 1998 is his work Erwachen der Liebe on texts by Philipp Schober, for soprano, violin solo and chamber orchestra. In 2000, Buckinx completed his Zen Requiem for tenor, baritone, male chorus and chamber orchestra, as well as the Nietzsche Talk Show for tenor and band.
For more information, contact Boudewijn Buckinx at the following email address: boudewijn.buckinx@pandora.be or write to : Begonialaan, 18, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium.
July 2000