Annelies Van Parys

ANNELIES VAN PARYS (b. 1975) is one of Belgium’s most important composers. She writes both solo and chamber music works and major orchestral compositions with a marked preference for musical theatre.

She studied composition under Luc Brewaeys at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent. In 2011 she was afforded the prestigious title of Laureate of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Arts and Sciences. Since 2014 she has also been a member of this Academy. Her compositions have been performed by renowned Belgian ensembles including Ictus, Nadar, Spectra, and Oxalys; and ensembles abroad including SMCQ Montreal, NYNME New York and Recherche Freiburg. Her music has been conducted by Otto Tausk, Sian Edwards, James Wood and Arturo Tamayo, among others. Her Second Symphony opened the ISCM World Music Days in 2012. 

Since 2007, as Muziektheater Transparant’s in-house composer, she has written a number of musical theatre works. These include remarkable pieces such as RUHE, An Oresteïa and Private View, her first opera that won no fewer than five prizes including the Fedora-Rolf Lieberman Prize and the SABAM AWARD 2015 in the contemporary classical music category. It was also one of the 14 winners of Music Theatre NOW 2015, an international competition for innovative musical theatre organised by the International Theatre Institute. Together with librettist Gaea Schoeters she wrote the opera USHER, which was directly commissioned by Staatsoper Berlin and Folkoperan Stockholm, where it was performed in 2018 and 2019 respectively, with a revival already being staged in Berlin in 2020. The opera was nominated for the prestigious Opera Awards. She was also widely praised for A War Requiem for the Belgian National Orchestra and Collegium Vocale Gent, which rounded off the official WWI commemorations in Belgium. 

During the coronavirus pandemic, she completed a few smaller scale projects, including the atmospheric musical theatre work Holle Haven and the short monodrama for soprano, clarinet and orchestra: Medea, a project from Wonderfeel and Flanders Festival Mechelen. 2022 was an extremely busy year. It saw the enthusiastically-received premiere of Eco… del vuoto, commissioned by the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam. This work will also appear in the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Horizon series. In May, her Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, written for Jan Michiels, was premiered by Antwerp Symphony and Martyn Brabbins. The audience was wildly enthusiastic. September saw the creation of Notwehr, a direct commission from the Biennale Musica di Venezia which garnered praise from press and audience alike. Finally in November, Séverine Ballon created her Shades of Light for cello and electronics at Transit and Huddersfield Festival. Annelies Van Parys is increasingly invited to and her work performed at major festivals and on major stages all over the world. She teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and is ‘Honorary Ambassador’ of the Royal Conservatory of Ghent.  

www.anneliesvanparys.be