Publications

Recording Producer and Sound Engineer Daan van Aalst remembers Theo Verbey: I began my studies at the conservatory in 1998, with a course in The Art of Sound, a field that I hadn't spent much time with before then. I had grown up in a musical family, and my brother and sister were already at the conservatory. Still, I could not envision myself as…

With its distinctive combination of flute, harp, and strings, the sound palette of Sestetto, which Theo Verbey wrote in 1998, seems decidedly French. However, the composer was undoubtedly aware of that fact, and he made an effort in the course of the work’s four movements to counterbalance this aura…

Theo Verbey’s composition, Inversie (Dutch for 'Inversion'), places two groups of instruments in contrast with each other. The division reflects the double character of the material, which is tonal on the one hand and atonal on the other. The inversion of the title – turning upside down and inside out – is played out between the two…

The Theo Verbey Foundation launched its new website at the beginning of this week. Reason enough for Sinfonietta to delve into its archives in search of recordings and scores of the works that this prominent Dutch composer wrote for Amsterdam Sinfonietta. We look back, along with cellist Maarten Mostert and former artistic coordinator and…

Thea Derks interviewed Theo Verbey at the time of the live broadcast of Traurig wie der Tod on Radio4, and here is a written article in Dutch, which she translated into English on the occasion of the launch of the Theo Verbey Foundation: "Theo Verbey on Traurig wie der Tod: ‘A composer is primarily a songwriter’ – Amsterdam, 22 May 2015 The Dutch…

On 13 October 2019 Theo Verbey passed away, at the age of 60. Theo was a member of the DFSMT and, especially at the beginning of society’s existence, very involved in the its activities. He meant a great deal for Dutch music theory, above all in his role as a teacher of music theory, arranging and orchestration, a role that he fulfilled at both…

This obituary in the Dutch paper NRC describes Theo Verbey's fascination for the relationship between sound and numbers. NRC: "As a child, Theo Verbey once put a math book on the piano and started playing. In retrospect, the scene has a symbolic value, because the correspondence between sound and numbers would continue to fascinate him."

"Composer Theo Verbey was a talented radical who became a masterful traditionalist, one of the greatest craftsmen Dutch music has ever known" "Theo Verbey was rightly heralded in the 1980s as one of the most talented young Dutch composers. His earliest pieces, including Aura (1985) and Inversie (1987) for ensemble, and Expulsie (1988-1990) for…

The inventive composer Theo Verbey died on October 13 after a long illness. Having made his name with a widely performed orchestration of Alban Berg’s first piano sonata, he went on to focus on intricate instrumentation in concert works that often proclaimed a historical perspective. His orchestral work, After the Great War, was premiered in the…

"There was a remarkable paradox about the Dutch composer, Theo Verbey: he wrote music according to the strictest mathematical principles but his audience simply heard beautiful sound. It has been announced that Verbey died on 13 October at the age of 60, three days after the Dutch premiere of his orchestral work, After the Great War. He had been…

(In Dutch) Twee weken geleden voerde het Residentie Orkest zijn orkeststuk ‘After the Great War’ nog uit in het Amsterdamse Muziekgebouw. En in januari zal het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest de wereldpremière spelen van ‘Ariadne’. De cd waarop trombonist Jörgen van Rijen en dit orkest zijn werk ‘Lied’ spelen, is net uit. Midden in een druk,…