Dutch organist to visit Dordt’s campus for Ringerwole Organ Recital Series

As part of the Ringerwole Organ Recital Series, Dutch organist Willem van Twillert will perform an organ recital on Saturday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the B.J. Haan Auditorium at Dordt University.

Van Twillert has composed a large number of psalm and choral arrangements, and he has received international awards for many of them. In 2005, he won the second prize and the audience prize at the Hinsz Composition Competition at the Bovenkerk in Kampen, with his “Toccata a la Chaconne” for organ. During the Polish International Composers Competition in Mikołów in 2007, van Twillert won an honorary award with his “Sequence for Choir and Organ.” In 2008, he won the “Prix Gaston Litaize” for the organ composition “Par le temps” at the Concours de Composition 2008 in France.

From 1979-2022 van Twillert was organist for the Johanneskerk in Amersfoort. In addition to his career as a composer, improvisor and church musician, he has also owned and directed a private music school in Bunschoten and taught at the Municipal Academy of Music in Zwolle.

In 1989 van Twillert started a foundation to promote organ music (Promotional Organ Projects). This foundation has produced music books, CDs, DVDs, and after 2008, videos for the successful YouTube channel featuring several Dutch organists.

Van Twillert began organ and piano studies with Henk Seldenthuis at the music school at Amersfoort. At the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam he studied the organ, improvisation and composition with Piet Kee and piano with Willem Brons. He graduated cum laude as Church Music and Performing Musician, with a teaching-endorsement for improvisation. He also studied Orchestral conducting with the Dutch orchestra conductor Anton Kersjes. Because he graduated cum laude, a scholarship afforded him the opportunity to specialize in historic music, including studies with Gustav Leonhardt (organ) and improvisation with Klaas Bolt. In 1976, van Twillert was the first Dutch organist to reach the final of the ‘Grand Prix de Chartres’ in France.

For more information about van Twillert, please see https://www.willemvantwillert.nl/.

Van Twillert’s visit is sponsored by the Joan Ringerwole Organ Recital Series, which is currently in its eleventh year. The Ringerwole series seeks to promote the organ and its repertoire for the musical education and enjoyment of students, alumni, and the community by bringing nationally-acclaimed organists to Dordt University.

About Dordt University

As an institution of higher education committed to the Reformed Christian perspective, Dordt University equips students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community to work toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life. Located in Sioux Center, Iowa, Dordt is a comprehensive university named to the best college lists by U.S. News and World Report, the Wall Street Journal, Times Higher Education, Forbes.com, Washington Monthly, and Princeton Review.