Donemus Webwinkel — Hölscher, Rieteke

Rieteke Hölscher (1969) studied piano classical music and jazz / pop at the conservatory of the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (1987-1992) with Frans van Dalen and Tine Schneider, also following masterclasses with Fania Chapiro, Frederic Meinders and Hans Broekman. From 1993 she had solo-lessons for another six years with the famous concert-pianist Rian de Waal.

After graduation she developed herself as an all-round musician. Only in 2011 she made her dream come true and started taking composition-lessons with Jeroen D'hoe, which resulted in a study Master of Music - Composition with Caroline Ansink and Jeroen D'hoe at the Utrecht Conservatory (2013), where she graduated on her masters degree in 2016.

Hölscher was nominated in September 2012 for the Composition Prize of 'Muziek Centrum Nederland'. In 2015 she was also a laureate of 'Save the Bassoon' and her sketch for Robot Toy Piano was selected during the Gaudeamus Muziekweek in 2017 (the extended version was premiered at the UnCaged Toy Piano Festival in New York).

In her compositions Hölscher has a strong commitment to audience and performers without making creative concessions. She aims at a unique sound with great accessibility, with the ideal to bridge the gap between music history, contemporary music and the audience. Her music is best described as emotionally-communicative, with a lot of colors, lyrical-melodic lines, attention for timbre and original use of contemporary extended techniques.

Her compositions are performed by renowned musicians and ensembles like the Utrechtse Studenten Cantorij, Marcel Worms (piano) and (students of) Bram van Sambeek (bassoon). In spring 2018 Youth Orchestra Bloembollenstreek reached the final of the National Competition for Youth-orchestra’s with 'Il Cibo per La Musica', a composition that Rieteke Hölscher wrote especially
for them.

As a composer, Hölscher is always searching for new connections, often combining contemporary music with education, or combining different art forms.
In 2019 this love for cross-art resulted in the project 'Disturbing Light', a composition for tape, live music and art-video and was premiered at a KuuB concert, organized by Gaudeamus and performed by the composer's own ensemble - Ensemble Cross Meeting.
For the near future also works for recorder-quartet, choir, and solo-bassoon are planned.