Hayo Boerema on the Art of Organ Improvisation

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #101!

Today's guest is a world-renown Dutch improviser and
organist Hayo Boerema. He was born in Groningen (Holland) in 1972. At the Royal Conservatory in The Hague he studied organ with Johann Th. Lemckert, church music with Marijke van Klaveren and improvisation with Jos van der Kooy; at the Rotterdam Conservatory he studied choral conducting with Barend Schuurman.

He specialised in improvisation with Naji Hakim (Paris) and in French symphonic repertoire with Ben van Oosten. Hayo Boerema won prizes at international competitions and festivals in Vienna (1998), Nuremberg (1999), Paris (1999), St. Albans (2001), Nijmegen (2004) and Kotka (2005); as a recitalist he has toured Spain, Germany, Finland and France.

​In 2005 he was appointed organist of the St Laurenskerk in Rotterdam, and in 2009 he was awarded the silver medal of merit by the Société Académique d’Education et d’Encouragement ‘Arts, Sciences, Lettres’ in Paris for his services to French organ music. He is appointed as professor in improvsation at Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam.

In this conversation Hayo shares his amazing insights about the art of organ improvisation. If you're interested at all with creativity, you don't want to miss miss this episode.

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Listen to the conversation

Relevant link:
hayoboerema.com