van Dijk, Péter L

van Dijk, Péter Louis

Péter Louis van Dijk is an internationally performed composer. His works include Horizons (for The King’s Singers), Bells (Chicago Children’s Choir) and a string quartet, iinyembezi (recorded by Sontonga). Recent works include the song the san women sang (for two pianos) for the Mainzer Klavierduo, a Magnificat for the NMMU Choir and Sontonga Quartet and Windy City Songs for soloists, double choir and orchestra, commissioned by the Chicago Children’s Choir for their 50th Anniversary Concert in June 2007.

He has more than a dozen CD’s to his credit and is published by Oxford University Press, Hal Leonard, Accolade Musikverlag, Prestige and under the Marco Polo label.

Other compositions include two ballets, several choral-orchestral works including The Musicians of Bremen, The Selfish Giant, Follow that Flute!, Youth Requiem, San Gloria, About Nothing (for orchestra), a Te Deum and numerous orchestral arrangements of African songs such as Bawo Thixo Somandla, Akhala Amaqhude Amabile, Ntsikana’s Hymn and others.

Dr van Dijk has lectured at the University of Cape Town (composition and orchestration), the University of the Western Cape (recorder and education) and until recently, was Senior Lecturer in Composition and Musicology at Rhodes University. He currently assists his wife, Junita Lamprecht-Van Dijk teaching choral conducting at post graduate level at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth.

As a conductor he has conducted most major South African orchestras and in 1996 conducted his San Gloria in Chicago with the Chicago Children’s Choir and the CYSO.

At nineteen, Van Dijk wrote his first opera, The Contract followed by a second opera, Die Noodsein. After a decade of secondary and tertiary teaching, Van Dijk was invited to join the CAPAB Music Department in 1984 as Assistant Music Manager. Since September 1986 Van Dijk has pursued a career as freelance composer, conductor and part-time lecturer.

(Info from official website)