Public Research Seminar: Historically inspired modernism
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire - Workshop 2
200 Jennens Road, B4 7XR
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Public Research Seminar: Historically inspired modernism
Johannes Leertouwer (Conservatory van Amsterdam)
How can we use information about historical performing practices to shape musical interpretation and performance today? In today’s seminar, Dutch violinist and conductor Johannes Leertouwer will talk about his ongoing research and how it shapes his work as a performing musician. From 2019 to 2022, he conducted PhD research into 19th-century performance practices of the orchestral music of Johannes Brahms at the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA) of Leiden University. Working with a special Project Orchestra and soloists playing on 19th-century instruments or copies of such instruments, he investigated lost expressive tools of the past in practice as an integral part of his research. Together with his orchestra and the soloists, Johannes has developed a way of handling tempo modifications, vibrato and portamento that resulted in sounding results that differ significantly from any results in both the mainstream performance practice and HIPP of 19th-century repertoire.
Johannes Leertouwer is a violinist and conductor. He is artistic director and conductor of the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht and first violin of the Narratio Quartet. He has taught at the Conservatory van Amsterdam for over 35 years. From 2022 to 2025 he combined his work at CvA with a professorship Historically Informed Performance Practice at Seoul National University. In November 2025 he launched the Beethoven Academy Utrecht, in order to study, perform and record all Beethoven Symphonies with a young orchestra inspired by the latest findings of historical research in the lead up to the Beethoven year 2027.
Running time approx. 90 minutes
* If you wish to join us online, please register and you shall be sent Zoom codes by email shortly before the seminar. It is not necessary to register in advance for in-person attendance.