Arjan Breukhoven

Last updated
Arjan Breukhoven Arjan Breukhoven op het orgel in Katwijk.JPG
Arjan Breukhoven

Karel Jan (Arjan) Breukhoven (Rotterdam, 18 May 1962) is a Dutch musician.

Contents

Education

Breukhoven started his musical training with Jan Brandwijk. He later studied principal professional organ and church music at the Royal Academy in the Hague with Wim van Beek and Bert Matter. He studied piano with Albert Brussee, and also singing, improvisation and choir direction. In this academy time he also got lessons from the French organist and pedagogue Gaston Litaize. He also attended choir and orchestra direction with professor Kurt Thomasstichting.

Performances

Breukhoven acts as a pianist, organist, soloist, as well as accompanying musician for soloists and choirs. He also works as a conductor. He has collaborated with a lot of other musicians like Ernst-Daniël Smid, Vicki Brown, Berdien Stenberg, Marco Bakker, Ben Cramer, Kamahl, Henk Poort, Marjolein Keuning, Margriet Eshuijs and Cor Bakker. He played with Louis van Dijk and Daniël Wayenberg, among others. In 2007 he celebrated his 25th year's jubilee as a musician by concerts with baritone Ernst-Daniël Smid and two concerts in Bruges' Church of Our Lady and Ghent's Saint Bavo and moreover with an organ concert on Garrels-orgel in the Great Church of Maassluis.

The largest organ which he ever played was a 127-voice organ at Saint Patrick' s basilica in the Australian city of Fremantle.

Activities

Breukhoven regularly gives concerts in the Netherlands, elsewhere on the continent and in Australia. He appeared on the EO programme "Nederland zingt" and is a regular guest on their radio programmes. He conducts three male choirs:

As a pianist and an organist he has developed his own style of improvisation, both in classic and in light recent development. He composes for choir, organs and other instruments. He is the organist of the reformed church of Berkel and Rodenrijs. He is frequently requested as organist at funeral ceremonies in the Netherlands.

Awards

Arjan Breukhoven received the silver honours in 2008 from the main board for church stewardship in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands for working as an organist in that church for more than 25 years.

Selected discography

He collaborated on more than 150 CD and DVD-records. A selection is shown below:

UitgaveSoortAlbum
-Organ CDSolo

from the basilica Saint Kunibert of Cologne

-Organ CDScherzo

from the Hervormde Dorpskerk of Berkel en Rodenrijs

-Organ CDSouvenirs from Europa

from the Heiliggeistkirche of Heidelberg (Germany)

STH Sacred Music CD 197096Organ CDArjan Breukhoven improvises part 1

from the Evangelisch Lutherse Kerk at The Hague

STH Sacred Music CD 198078Organ CDArjan Breukhoven improvises part 2

from the Bovenkerk of Kampen

STH Sacred Music CD 1400202Organ CDArjan Breukhoven improvises part 3

from the Groote Kerk of Maassluis

STH Sacred Music CD 1402412Organ CDArjan Breukhoven improvises part 4

from the Grote Kerk of Hasselt

-Organ CDArjan Breukhoven improvises over Christmas songs part 5

from the Grote Kerk of Dordrecht

-Organ CDPsalmimprovisations
-Organ CDArjan Breukhoven playing the Kam & van der Meulen organ

in the Grote Kerk of Dordrecht

STH Records CD 1401822Choir CDThis is my song deel 1

with the Christelijk Mannenkoor Prins Alexander

STH Records CD 1405822Choir CDThis is my song deel 2

wirth the Christelijk Mannenkoor Prins Alexander

CD HCM 200595Choir CDGelukkig is het land

with the Hollands Christelijk Mannenkoor

-Choir CDDankt, dankt nu allen God

with the Hollands Christelijk Mannenkoor

-Choir CDZo lief, had God de wereld

with the Chr. Mannenkoor Prins Alexander and Hollands Chr. Mannenkoor

DHCD 9119Choir CDGroot Concert in Parijs

from the Ste. Eustache of Paris

-Choir CDGeef ons vrede

1500 choir members from the Grote Kerk of Dordrecht

-Choir CDArjan Breukhoven dirigeert Groot Mannenkoor bij Kaarslicht

with the Randstedelijk Mannenkoor, the Chr. Mannenkoor Prins Alexander and the Hollands Christelijk Mannenkoor

-Verzamel CDIn het Licht

Jubilee CD

-Verzamel CDImprovisations on Favourite Psalms and Hymns

CD with organ improvisations from various churches

-Zang CDSamenzang uit Parijs

from the Ste. Eustache of Paris

-Zang CDMelodia

From the Hervormde Dorpskerk of Berkel en Rodenrijs

-Zang CDKom tot Mij

from the Grote- of St. Maartenskerk of Tiel

-Instrumental CDIk bouw op U

from the Grote- of St. Maartenskerk of Tiel

ICM CD 202001Instrumental CDFamous Instrumental Melodies part 1

Arjan Breukhoven on the Seiler grand piano

ICM CD 202001Instrumental CDFamous Instrumental Melodies part 2

Arjan Breukhoven on the Seiler grand piano

-Instrumental CDMusica Religioso
-DVDArjan Breukhoven in candlelight

from the Groote Kerk of Maassluis

-DVDImprovisations

from the Bovenkerk of Kampen

-CDShalom Israel

Muzical pearls about Israël and Jeruzalem, with Martin Mans organ, Anja van der Maten hobo en Martin de Deugd violin

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berkel en Rodenrijs</span> Village in South Holland, The Netherlands

Berkel en Rodenrijs is a town and former municipality in the municipality of Lansingerland, in the province of South Holland, The Netherlands. The town is very close to Rotterdam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederik Magle</span> Danish composer, concert organist, and pianist (born 1977)

Frederik Reesen Magle is a Danish composer, concert organist, and pianist. He writes contemporary classical music as well as fusion of classical music and other genres. His compositions include orchestral works, cantatas, chamber music, and solo works, including several compositions commissioned by the Danish royal family. Magle has gained a reputation as an organ virtuoso, and as a composer and performing artist who does not refrain from venturing into more experimental projects – often with improvisation – bordering jazz, electronica, and other non-classical genres.

Sir George Thomas Thalben-Ball was an Australian organist and composer who spent almost all his life in England.

David John Briggs is an English organist and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piet Kee</span> Dutch musician (1927–2018)

Pieter William Kee was a Dutch organist and composer.

Stephen Farr is a British organist who is currently the Chief Examiner at the Royal College of Organists and the Director of Music at All Saints, Margaret Street.

Jeremy Daniell Filsell is an English pianist, organist and composer who currently serves as director of music at Saint Thomas Church, New York City.

Bálint Karosi is a Hungarian organist and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Johnson Lang</span> American conductor

Benjamin Johnson Lang was an American conductor, pianist, organist, teacher and composer. He introduced a large amount of music to American audiences, including the world premiere of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, which he conducted in Boston in 1875.

Jakob Lorentzen is a Danish organ soloist and chamber musician. He is organist and choir master of the Holmen Church and Master of the music at Christiansborg Palace Chapel, both principal churches in the Copenhagen city.

Rudolf Kelber is a German organist, harpsichordist, conductor and church musician.

Ralph Cupper is an organist, director and composer who was born and raised in Norwich, within the county of Norfolk, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organist</span> Musician who plays any type of organ

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational hymn-singing and play liturgical music.

Adrian Frederick Partington is an English conductor, chorus master, organist and pianist. He is director of music at Gloucester Cathedral, joint conductor of the Three Choirs Festival and artistic director for the Gloucester festival years, director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales, conductor of Gloucester Choral Society, and former conductor of Bristol Choral Society and leader of the postgraduate choral conducting course at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

FransKrafft was a composer, organist and director in the Austrian Netherlands. He was organist at the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent from 1769 to 1794. He is sometimes erroneously named Frans-Joseph, but that is actually his elder brother, born in 1721. He is not to be confused with his cousin, also named Frans Krafft and also born in Brussels in 1733, who later moved to Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willem Tanke</span> Musical artist

Willem Tanke is an organist and acclaimed recitalist known for his interpretations of works by J.S. Bach, Max Reger, Olivier Messiaen and contemporary composers. In addition he is noted for his own musical language as an improviser and a performing composer. As a teenager, he was drawn especially to wanting to play the organ by the religiously-inspired music of J.S. Bach and Olivier Messiaen, and also John Coltrane.

Matthias Maierhofer is an Austrian organist and church musician.

TOGB is a football club from Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands. The club was founded in 1928. Its first squad plays in the Derde Divisie since 2022.

Manuel Gera is a German church musician and organist.

Jan Welmers was a Dutch composer and organist.