About this Artist

Born into a musical family, LOUIS ANDRIESSEN received the early influences of Stravinsky and jazz from his older brother Jurriaan. He studied with Luciano Berio in the mid-’60s and wrote pieces that drew on the styles and techniques of European modernism, before he began responding to American minimalism in the 1970s. He creates music of great energy and unusual color from spare materials, often exploring political and social issues, as well as aspects of physics, such as time and velocity. Since the Minimalist Jukebox festival in 2004, he has been closely associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which has commissioned and premiered a number of works from him, including a new opera, Theatre of the World, coming in May 2016. He won the 2011 Grawemeyer Award for his opera La Commedia, which the LA Phil presented in its U.S. premiere on a Green Umbrella concert in 2010.