Welcome to the
55th INTERNATIONAL
COMPETITION
FOR ACCORDIONISTS

Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Championships
17 - 20 October, 2002
Copenhagen, DENMARK

Meet the Coupe Mondiale Test Piece Composer - Bent Lorentzen


Danish composer Bent Lorentzen was born 1935 in Stenvad, and grew up in Djursland in the heart of Denmark.

His father, who was a doctor, was an enthusiastic amateur musician, and as a South Jutlander educated in Kiel he was also familiar with Wagner’s operas and German Late Romantic music.

Bent played music with the family and had already begun to compose before he went to school. To his young ears Richard Strauss and Carl Nielsen sounded boldly modern.

After his school years Bent studied at the Department of Musicology of Aarhus University, and later went to the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where he studied cello and theory and took his diploma in 1960. He studied composition with a.o. Knud Jeppesen, Holmboe, Jersild and Høffding and now he serves as assistant professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Aarhus. Since 1971 Bent has been living in Copenhagen, where he also works as a freelance composer.

During his career as a composer, Mr. Lorentzen has received many grants for his work. In 1982 he was awarded the Danish State Grant for Life and in addition he has received several national as well as international awards.

Lorentzen has composed music in most musical genres including works for symphony orchestra, instrumental concertos, organ works, chamber music, vocal and choir music as well as 13 operas in both comedies and tragedies. His latest work "Steppenwolf" is awaiting for it's premiere performance.

In addition to his composing career, Lorentzen has always been very aware of the importance of bringing out new music to young people and children. This interest has played a role in his writing compositions for the youth of today, and played an important part in bringing out his deep interest of expression and notation connected to the music of our time.

Lorentzen has been described as "an unusual bird in the domestic aviary, rich coloured and unpredictable, social and wilful at the same time" but always deeply serious and genuine regardless of audience and genre.

His second work for accordion (the first, Tears, was written with the encouragement of the late Mogens Ellegaard) we are grateful to Mr Lorentzen for writing the 2002 Coupe Mondiale Test Piece.

Entitled "Circus", this 7 minute work contains options for both piano and button accordion, and is written in four movements:

  • March
  • Acrobats
  • Lions
  • Sabre Dance

The work was commissioned by the DHL for the 55th Coupe Mondiale with financial support from the Danish Arts Foundation.

The Publisher, Samfundet (www.samfundet.dk) is offering a 10,000 Danish Kroner prize for the best performance of this work at the Coupe Mondiale.

For further information in both Danish and English, please see: www.mic.dk and www.samfundet.dk

Danske Harmonikaspilleres Landsforbund (DHL) - Secretariat
Fryndeshave 6
6440 Augustenborg
DENMARK
Phone: +45 7447 4337
Fax: +45 7447 4327

E-mail: dhl@dhl-online.dk
Internet:
www.dhl-online.dk


Confederation Internationale des Accordeonistes (CIA) - General Secretary
Dietrichgasse 51/19, A - 1030, Vienna, AUSTRIA   Phone/Fax: +43 1-712 0960   E-mail: icaccordions@netway.at

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