Michel van der Aa

News

30 December 2022

End-of-year recommendations 2022

Dear friends,
As we approach the end of 2022, I’d like to share with you my favorite books, series, music, and software of the past year.

First, some professional highlights: the US premiere of Upload at the Park Avenue Armory in New York last spring was a dream come true. The Armory is such a magical place, with an amazing staff, team, and audience.

Another highlight for me was the world premiere of The Book of Water at the Venice Biennale. It was an immense pleasure and privilege to work with Samuel and Timothy West, Mary Bevan, Ensemble Modern, and Amsterdam Sinfonietta on this production.

The icing on the cake this year was winning the International Opera Award for our “Upload” film. You can watch the film on medici.tv, Marquee TV, and takt1.

The Book of Water

Chamber music theatre (2021-2022)

Upload

Film opera (2019-2020)

Eight

Virtual reality installation (2018-2019)

Violin Concerto

for solo violin and orchestra (2014)

Blank Out

Chamber opera (2015-2016)

Up-close

for solo cello, string ensemble and film (2010)

Michel van der Aa is a truly multidisciplinary figure in contemporary music. A unique voice, he combines composition with film and stage direction, and script writing. Classical instruments, voices, electronic sound, actors, theatre and video are all seamless extensions of his musical vocabulary.

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