Thom Willems in Zusammenarbeit mit Leslie Stuck

Dutch composer Thom Willems studied composition with Louis Andriessen and electronic music with Jan Boerman and Dick Raaijmakers at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Since 1985, he has been a close artistic partner of choreographer William Forsythe, for whose ensembles Ballett Frankfurt and The Forsythe Company he has composed over 65 works. His electronic scores are characterized by subtle soundscapes, insistent rhythms and urban sounds and are an intrinsic part of the architecture of Forsythe’s choreographies. Among his best-known works are In the Middle Somewhat Elevated (1987), commissioned by Rudolf Nureyev for the Ballet of L'Opéra de Paris and premiered by Isabelle Guérin, Sylvie Guillem, Laurent Hilaire and Manuel Legris as soloists, among others, and The Loss of Small Detail (1991). Other key works include Impressing the Czar (1988), Limb’s Theorem (1990), A L I E / N A(C)TION (1992), Eidos/Telos (1995), One Flat Thing, reproduced (2000), Sider (2011) and Study #3 (2013).

Thom Willems’ music, in combination with works by William Forsythe, is represented in the repertoire of 68 ballet companies in 26 countries worldwide, including the New York City Ballet, Het Nationale Ballet Amsterdam, San Francisco Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Ballet de L’Opéra de Paris, Ballet de L’Opéra de Lyon, Corpo di ballo del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Semperoper Ballett Dresden, Nederlands Dans Theater, Royal Ballet and English National Ballet. In 1997, Forsythe’s short film Solo was presented with Willems’ music at the Whitney Biennial.

His work is used by fashion designers, e.g. Issey Miyake and Versace, and was performed at the opening of Tate Modern in London in 2000. Further choreographers he has worked with include Daniel Ezralow, Daniel Larrieu and Krisztina de Châtel. In 2007 he was involved with Tadao Ando’s research center for design, 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo, and in 2008 with Matthew Ritchie’s installation The Morning Line for Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary.