Dick Raaijmakers (1930) pioneered Dutch electronic and tape music in the 1950s. As a groundbreaking multimedia artist, he was ahead of his time; his compositions, installations, music- and theatre performances resonate with tremendous originality. Raaijmakers has created a huge body of work, however they’re rarely performed, partly due to the irreplaceable role that he plays in his own pieces. Ensemble 306, Kees Tazelaar and Johan van Kreij will present a number of works by Raaijmakers and works by Kees Tazelaar and Salvatore Sciarino.
As a teacher, thinker and composer, Raaijmakers has hugely influenced the development of electro-instrumental and theatrical music in the Netherlands. By integrating other disciplines such as visual arts, literature, film and theatre with music, he created numerous visionary music theatre works for, amongst others, the Holland Festival and theatre company Hollandia. As a visual artist he received recognition with installations as the Ideofonen, of which one can be seen again in the Temporary Stedelijk Museum. As a teacher at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague he played an important role in electronic music and arts education.
Dick Raaijmakers also expressed his ideas in numerous lectures, articles and books. He received several awards for his contribution to music, visual arts and theatre. The richly illustrated ‘Dick Raaijmakers Monograph’ was published by V2_publishing in 2006.