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Draft:Vincent Corver

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  • Comment: It's not allowed to source via direct URLs, inline references are required from living people. Read up via WP:YFA, WP:BLP and WP:REFB. ChrysGalley (talk) 10:08, 18 June 2026 (UTC)


Vincent Corver is a concert pianist and composer, born in the Netherlands, now based in Switzerland. He founded the London Steve Reich Ensemble during his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.[1] He also created the arrangement of Steve Reich's Six Pianos published as Piano Counterpoint.[2] His musical works include Vincent, written for the 125th anniversary of the death of Vincent van Gogh, and Fortissimo, composed for the Sauber Formula One team.[3][4]

Early life and education

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Corver started playing the piano at the age of six. At the age of twelve he began his studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.[5] At age 23 he met and worked with the American composer Steve Reich. Corver then asked to join Reich's ensemble, but Reich replied he was too young and advised him to start his own group and do postgraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Corver ended up doing both.[1] In London he also took a self-study course in economics.[1]

Career

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London Steve Reich Ensemble

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Corver founded the London Steve Reich Ensemble in 2005 with several fellow students at the Royal Academy of Music, including the young conductor Kevin Griffiths.[1][6] Its first record release, with Reich's Sextet, Piano Phase and Eight Lines, was launched on CPO in 2008, with Corver at the piano. Reich called the group "an outstanding group of young musicians".[6] The album got four-star reviews in BBC Music Magazine and The Guardian,[7][8] and was reviewed in Gramophone,[9] which later listed the Piano Phase recording by Corver and the pianist Keith Ford among five essential Reich recordings.[10] Corver and Griffiths talked about the album on BBC Radio 3's In Tune in January 2008.[11]

In 2011 the ensemble recorded Different Trains, Piano Counterpoint and Triple Quartet for EMI Classics, again with Griffiths conducting and Corver on piano.[12] In 2022 BBC Music Magazine included this album in its list of 30 "unmissable albums" of the past three decades.[13]

Piano Counterpoint

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In 2011 Corver arranged Reich's Six Pianos (1973) for one pianist playing live against a recording. Four out of the six parts are pre-recorded, with the other two brought together into a single live part. Some patterns in the live part are moved up one octave, with the entire arrangement being performed quicker than the original.[2][12] Boosey & Hawkes publishes the arrangement as Piano Counterpoint. Corver gave the first performance on 23 October 2012 at The Pearl in Doha.[2] John Orfe and Alarm Will Sound gave the US premiere in March 2013.[14] The pianist Vicky Chow later recorded it for Reich's 2014 album Radio Rewrite; Andrew Clements of The Guardian felt the arrangement lost some of the energy of the original.[15]

The ensemble's 2011 EMI album was reviewed in Gramophone, The Independent and BBC Music Magazine. Andy Gill of The Independent said it was the piece on the album that "impresses most".[16][17][18]

Qatar

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During his studies in London, Corver commenced working as a sales assistant in the Harrods piano department. After graduating he opened his own piano shop in Lucerne, Switzerland.[1] Subsequently, he launched a website to research the demand for pianos in the Gulf region and sent the results to Steinway & Sons, who then offered him the job of setting up a new piano gallery at The Pearl in Doha. He moved to Qatar within several weeks.[1] In Doha he also developed a piano teaching programme and wrote a series of tutor books, Qatar Behind the Piano.[19]

In February 2016 Corver performed his piece Vincent, written for the 125th anniversary of the death of Vincent van Gogh and commissioned by the Dutch embassy in Qatar, at a music and medicine event held by Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University Student Centre. He performed it in sync with an animation of Van Gogh's Sunflowers by Alex Klim.[3]

Later work

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Corver is a Steinway Artist.[20]

In 2022 he composed and produced Fortissimo for the Sauber Formula One team, to mark its 30th year in Formula One. He wrote the piece after visiting the team's factory in Hinwil, and the piece features piano with recordings of engine and garage sounds. Corver first performed it at the factory in December 2022, with the team's founder Peter Sauber in the audience.[4]

Discography

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  • Steve Reich: Sextet; Piano Phase; Eight Lines – London Steve Reich Ensemble, Kevin Griffiths; Vincent Corver, piano. CPO 777 337-2 (2008)[6]
  • Steve Reich: Different Trains; Piano Counterpoint; Triple Quartet – London Steve Reich Ensemble, Kevin Griffiths; Vincent Corver, piano. EMI Classics 087 3192 (2011)[12]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Scott, Victoria (October 2012). "Piano passion". T Qatar. pp. 34–35.
  2. 1 2 3 "Steve Reich: Piano Counterpoint". Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 12 September 2026.
  3. 1 2 Holla, Anand (22 February 2016). "Van Gogh's Sunflowers bloom to melodic Vincent". Gulf Times. p. 20.
  4. 1 2 Dubach, Matthias (9 December 2022). "Star-Musiker komponiert für Sauber". Blick (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2026.
  5. ↑ Yaqoob, Tahira (24 November 2012). "Concert pianist wants to spark interest in classical music in the Gulf". The National. Retrieved 12 September 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 Eddins, Stephen. "Steve Reich: Sextet; Piano Phase; Eight Lines". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
  7. ↑ "Reich: Sextet; Piano Phase; Eight Lines". BBC Music Magazine. April 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
  8. ↑ Clements, Andrew (11 April 2008). "Reich: Sextet; Piano Phase; Eight Lines; London Steve Reich Ensemble/Griffiths". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2026.
  9. ↑ Clark, Philip (September 2008). "Reich: Sextet; Piano Phase; Eight Lines". Gramophone.
  10. ↑ "The Reich stuff: five essential recordings". Gramophone.
  11. ↑ "In Tune". In Tune. 21 January 2008. BBC Radio 3.
  12. 1 2 3 Eddins, Stephen. "Reich: Different Trains; Piano Counterpoint; Triple Quartet". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 September 2026.
  13. ↑ Jackson, Claire (September 2022). "30 glorious years: 30 unmissable albums of the past three decades". BBC Music Magazine. p. 32.
  14. ↑ VanSpeybroeck, Maggee (18 March 2013). "Alarm Will Sound hypnotizes with all-Reich program". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved 12 September 2026.
  15. ↑ Clements, Andrew (2 October 2014). "Reich: Radio Rewrite; Electric Counterpoint; Piano Counterpoint CD review – this take on Radiohead is typical late Reich". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2026.
  16. ↑ Clark, Philip (November 2011). "Reich: Different Trains; Piano Counterpoint; Triple Quartet". Gramophone. p. 63. Retrieved 12 September 2026.
  17. ↑ Gill, Andy (2 September 2011). "Album: The London Steve Reich Ensemble, Reich: Different Trains; Triple Quartet; Piano Counterpoint (EMI Classics)". The Independent. Retrieved 12 September 2026.
  18. ↑ Hewett, Ivan (2011). "Reich: Triple Quartet; Different Trains; Piano Counterpoint". BBC Music Magazine.
  19. ↑ Bakshi, Maneesh (5 March 2015). "Piano passion: Steinway all the way". Qatar Tribune. p. 7.
  20. ↑ "Vincent Corver". Steinway & Sons. Retrieved 12 September 2026.
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