Donemus Webwinkel — Devreese, Frédéric

Frédéric Devreese (1929-2020) was born in Amsterdam. Devreese received his first musical training from his father, Godfried Devreese (1893-1972), a composer and conductor. He studied composition with Marcel Poot and conducting with René Defossez in Brussels. At the age of nineteen, in 1949, he received the Prize of the Town of Ostend for his Piano Concerto No. 1. Due to this, he was national noticed and received scholarships to study in Rome and Vienna. At the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome he studied composition with Ildebrando Pizzetti from 1952 to 1955, and conducting with Hans Swarowsky at the Wiener Staatsakademie in 1955-56.
The works of Devreese are very diverse. He wrote four piano concertos, a violin concerto, a cello concerto, a symphony and chamber music, two operas, ballet suites and songs. In the course of his career he evolved from an irrepressible vitalism with jazz effects to a more universal style, which has deeper expression and more balanced structure.
His Piano Concerto No. 4 was the imposed work for the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in 1983. His Ostinati for alto saxophone, accordion and strings was the imposed work at the International Competition Adolphe Sax in Dinant in 1998.
However, he is most famous for his many memorable film scores . He wrote essentially for André Delvaux, Un Soir, un Train, Benvenuta, Rendez-vous à Bray and for Marion Hänsel ‘Noces Barbares' and ‘Il Maestro’. His film music would exert a major influence on his other works.
Frédéric Devreese has conducted orchestras all over the world. As a conductor, he has made various recordings for Marco Polo's series Anthology of Flemish Music He was nominated for this serie Cultural Ambassador of Flanders.
Devreese had great interest in young musicians, whom he wanted to stimulate and promote by initiatives such as Tenuto, a national music competition for young talent . Also, he was chief conductor of the Belgian Youth Orchestra.
Devreese has received several national and international awards, including the Prix Italia for his TV opera Willem van Saeftinghen (1964), the Georges Delerue Award for La Partie d’échecs Yves Hanchar (1994) and twice the Joseph Plateau Music Award for L’ oeuvre au Noir, André Delvaux(1988) and Het Sacrament, Hugo Claus(1990). In 2006 he was given the Klara carriere award and he was appointed Maestro Honoris Causa of the Conservatory of Antwerp.
His works are recorded on labels such as Marco Polo, Naxos, Emi, Milan, Barclay, Cyprès,Virgin, Classics, Beriato.