Ignace Michiels
Encyclopedia
Ignace Michiels is a Belgian
organist at the St. Salvator's Cathedral of Bruges
, a choral conductor and an organ teacher. He is internationally known as a concert organist.
in Leuven
. He continued his studies with Robert Anderson
at the Southern Methodist University
in Dallas, with Herman Verschraegen at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels
, and with Odile Pierre at the Conservatoire de Paris
where he graduated with a Prix d'Excellence. He also received the Higher Diploma of organ music at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent.
Ignace Michiels has been teaching organ at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent and at the Bruges academy. He has been principal organist at the St. Salvator's Cathedral, whose organ is one of the oldest in Flanders
. Michiels is responsible for the cathedral music in services and the Kathedraalconcerten, a series with a tradition since 1952.
He conducted the oratorio choir Cantores from 1990 to 2005. Michiels prepared the choir for concerts and recordings, such as Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
with the BRTN Philarmonic Orchestra Brussels, conducted by Alexander Rahbari.
Michiels has served on the jury of international organ competitions and has taught masterclasses. He has collaborated with the Flemish classical radio.
, organist of St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden
, in a project to bring to a close together a century of violence. Both in Bruges and in Wiesbaden a concert was performed by the choirs Cantores and Chor von St. Bonifatius, Michiels playing the organ and Dessauer conducting. The concert in Bruges on 23 October 1999 was named Eeuw van zinloos Geweld (Era of meaningless violence) and expressed it in Maurice Duruflé
's Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain, Jules Van Nuffel
's In convertendo Dominus
, Jehan Alain
's Litanies, Rudolf Mauersberger
's Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst, Gerald Hendrie's Exsultate from the sonata In praise of reconciliation, and Duruflé's Requiem
. The concert in Wiesbaden was called Versöhnungskonzert zum Ende des Jahrhunderts (concert of reconciliation at the end of the century).
The collaboration has continued since 2001 in annual choral projects with organ, played by Michiels. German and Flemish singers have formed the Reger-Chor-International
singing concerts in Germany and in Belgium. In their first concert in Bruges on 30 June 2001 they performed Théodore Dubois
' Fiat Lux, William Lloyd Webber
's Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae, Allegro giocoso of Edward Bairstow
, Duruflè's Toccata, Van Nuffel's Psalm 92 Dominus regnavit, and the Hebbel-Requiem
of Max Reger
in the organ version of Max Beckschäfer
. The slightly different concert in Wiesbaden was recorded.
On 19 August 2002, Michiels played an organ concert at the Rheingau Musik Festival
in the church St. Markus of Erbach
.
On 2 December 2006 he conducted in the Concertgebouw of Bruges Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Reger-Chor-International.
On 1 August 2008, he played Messiaen's Messe de la Pentecôte
on the Flentrop
organ at the Grote Kerk in Breda
. He played works of Brahms with the Reger-Chor-International and organ works of Otto Olsson
, Julius Reubke
, Joseph Jongen
and Camil Van Hulse. On 27 October he played works of Schumann
, Olsson, Flor Peeters
, Gaston Litaize
, and Naji Hakim
at the International Organist Festival in Turin
.
On 4 July 2010, he played with the harpist Andrea Voets in concert at the Festival de la Ribagorza in the
Basílica de la Peña de Graus in Graus
.
As part of the Boni-Musikwochen 2010 in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden, celebrating 25 Jahre Reger-Chor, he performed a recital, including Reger's Toccata from op. 59 and Scherzo from op. 65, and Mendelssohn's Variations sérieuses
. In a concert with the choir he performed the last movement of Bach's cantata
BWV 134a, Van Nuffel's In convertendo Dominus and Reger's Requiem. He played Jongen's Prelude et fugue op. 121, Charles Tournemire
's Victimae paschali, and Marcel Dupré
's Prelude et fugue op. 7/3.
, and works for organ with pan flute
and trumpet. He appears with Organ Sonata op. 175 of Louis Maes on a Jubileum CD celebrating 150 years Bruges conservatory (1997).
He has participated in recordings of choral music:
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
organist at the St. Salvator's Cathedral of Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
, a choral conductor and an organ teacher. He is internationally known as a concert organist.
Professional career
Ignace Michiels studied the organ, the piano and the harpsichord at the Academy of Bruges. In 1986 he won a prize at the LemmensinstituutLemmensinstituut
The Lemmensinstituut is a Belgian conservatory in Leuven named after Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens. It was founded in 1879 and has a reputation for offering one of Europe's finest Music Therapy degree programs...
in Leuven
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
. He continued his studies with Robert Anderson
Robert T. Anderson (organist)
Robert Theodore Anderson was an American organist, composer and pedagogue.- Biography :He was born on October 5, 1934 in Chicago. He received his musical training at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago and at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois...
at the Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
in Dallas, with Herman Verschraegen at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels
Royal Conservatory of Brussels
The Royal Conservatory of Brussels is a drama and music college in Brussels, Belgium. An academy for acting and the arts, it has been attended by many of the top actors and actresses in Belgium such as Josse De Pauw, Luk van Mello and Luk De Konink....
, and with Odile Pierre at the Conservatoire de Paris
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
where he graduated with a Prix d'Excellence. He also received the Higher Diploma of organ music at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent.
Ignace Michiels has been teaching organ at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent and at the Bruges academy. He has been principal organist at the St. Salvator's Cathedral, whose organ is one of the oldest in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
. Michiels is responsible for the cathedral music in services and the Kathedraalconcerten, a series with a tradition since 1952.
He conducted the oratorio choir Cantores from 1990 to 2005. Michiels prepared the choir for concerts and recordings, such as Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
with the BRTN Philarmonic Orchestra Brussels, conducted by Alexander Rahbari.
Michiels has served on the jury of international organ competitions and has taught masterclasses. He has collaborated with the Flemish classical radio.
International concerts
In 1999 he collaborated with Gabriel DessauerGabriel Dessauer
Gabriel Dessauer is a German cantor, concert organist and academic. He has been responsible for the church music at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden, since 1981. He is an internationally known organ recitalist and an organ teacher on the faculty of the Gutenberg University of Mainz...
, organist of St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden
St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden
St. Bonifatius in Wiesbaden, Germany, is the central Catholic parish and church in the capital of Hesse. The present building was designed by architect Philipp Hoffmann in Gothic Revival style and built from 1844 to 1849. Twin steeples of 68 m dominate the Luisenplatz. The parish is part of the...
, in a project to bring to a close together a century of violence. Both in Bruges and in Wiesbaden a concert was performed by the choirs Cantores and Chor von St. Bonifatius, Michiels playing the organ and Dessauer conducting. The concert in Bruges on 23 October 1999 was named Eeuw van zinloos Geweld (Era of meaningless violence) and expressed it in Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé was a French composer, organist, and pedagogue.Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure. In 1912, he became chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School, where he studied piano and organ with Jules Haelling...
's Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain, Jules Van Nuffel
Jules Van Nuffel
Jules Van Nuffel , was a musicologist, composer, and a renowned expert on religious music.-Biography:...
's In convertendo Dominus
In convertendo Dominus
In convertendo Dominus , op. 32, is the musical setting of a Latin psalm, written in 1926 by Jules Van Nuffel for a mixed choir and organ.-History:...
, Jehan Alain
Jehan Alain
Jehan Ariste Alain was a French organist and composer.-Biography:Alain was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the western suburbs of Paris, into a family of musicians. His father, Albert Alain was an enthusiastic organist, composer and organ-builder who had studied with Alexandre Guilmant and Louis...
's Litanies, Rudolf Mauersberger
Rudolf Mauersberger
Rudolf Mauersberger was a German choral conductor and composer.-Professional career:...
's Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst, Gerald Hendrie's Exsultate from the sonata In praise of reconciliation, and Duruflé's Requiem
Requiem (Duruflé)
The Requiem, op. 9, by Maurice Duruflé was commissioned in 1947 by the French music publisher Durand and is written in memory of the composer's father. The work is for SATB choir with mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists...
. The concert in Wiesbaden was called Versöhnungskonzert zum Ende des Jahrhunderts (concert of reconciliation at the end of the century).
The collaboration has continued since 2001 in annual choral projects with organ, played by Michiels. German and Flemish singers have formed the Reger-Chor-International
Reger-Chor
The Reger-Chor is a project choir founded in 1985 and conducted by Gabriel Dessauer in Wiesbaden. Since 2001 it has grown to Reger-Chor-International in a collaboration with the organist Ignace Michiels of the St. Salvator's Cathedral of Bruges, performing an annual concert both in Germany and...
singing concerts in Germany and in Belgium. In their first concert in Bruges on 30 June 2001 they performed Théodore Dubois
Théodore Dubois
François-Clément Théodore Dubois was a French composer, organist and music teacher.-Biography:Théodore Dubois was born in Rosnay in Marne. He studied first under Louis Fanart and later at the Paris Conservatoire under Ambroise Thomas. He won the Prix de Rome in 1861...
' Fiat Lux, William Lloyd Webber
William Lloyd Webber
William Southcombe Lloyd Webber was an English organist and composer.-Life and career:Lloyd Webber was born in London...
's Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae, Allegro giocoso of Edward Bairstow
Edward Bairstow
Sir Edward Cuthbert Bairstow was born in Huddersfield on 22 August 1874 and died in York on 1 May 1946. He was an English organist and composer in the Anglican church music tradition....
, Duruflè's Toccata, Van Nuffel's Psalm 92 Dominus regnavit, and the Hebbel-Requiem
Requiem (Reger)
The Requiem, Op. 144b, is a late Romantic composition of Max Reger, also called Hebbel Requiem, a setting of Friedrich Hebbel's poem Requiem. Reger wrote it in 1915 for alto solo, chorus and orchestra...
of Max Reger
Max Reger
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
in the organ version of Max Beckschäfer
Max Beckschäfer
Max Beckschäfer is a German organist, composer and academic.- Professional career :Beckschäfer took classes at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium in Munich in organ, piano, violin and choral conducting. He studied church music at the Musikhochschule München and continued studying composition with...
. The slightly different concert in Wiesbaden was recorded.
On 19 August 2002, Michiels played an organ concert at the Rheingau Musik Festival
Rheingau Musik Festival
The Rheingau Musik Festival is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres...
in the church St. Markus of Erbach
Eltville
Eltville am Rhein is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road ....
.
On 2 December 2006 he conducted in the Concertgebouw of Bruges Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Reger-Chor-International.
On 1 August 2008, he played Messiaen's Messe de la Pentecôte
Messe de la Pentecôte
Messe de la Pentecôte is an organ mass composed by Olivier Messiaen in 1949–50. According to the composer, it is based on twenty years of improvising at Église de la Sainte-Trinité, where Messiaen was organist since 1931....
on the Flentrop
Flentrop
Flentrop is a Dutch company based in Zaandam that builds and restores organs.-History:It was established in 1903 by Hendrik Wicher Flentrop from Koog aan de Zaan. Hendrik, originally a house painter by trade, was an organist at the church at Zaandam, and started a piano - and organ trade...
organ at the Grote Kerk in Breda
Breda
Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. As a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance...
. He played works of Brahms with the Reger-Chor-International and organ works of Otto Olsson
Otto Olsson
Otto Olsson was a Swedish composer of classical music.Otto Olsson was one of the greatest organ virtuosos of his time. He studied organ with Lagergren and composition with Dente at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and then joined the faculty there, where he taught harmony and then organ...
, Julius Reubke
Julius Reubke
Julius Reubke was a German composer, pianist and organist. In his short life — he died at the age of 24 — he composed the Sonata on the 94th Psalm, in C minor, which was and still is considered one of the greatest organ works in the repertoire.-Biography:Born in Hausneindorf, a small...
, Joseph Jongen
Joseph Jongen
Marie-Alphonse-Nicolas-Joseph Jongen was a Belgian organist, composer, and music educator.-Biography:Jongen was born in Liège. On the strength of an amazing precocity for music, he was admitted to the Liège Conservatoire at the extraordinarily young age of seven, and spent the next sixteen years...
and Camil Van Hulse. On 27 October he played works of Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, Olsson, Flor Peeters
Flor Peeters
Flor Peeters was a Flemish composer, organist and teacher.-Biography:Born and raised in the village of Tielen , he was the youngest child in a family of eleven...
, Gaston Litaize
Gaston Litaize
Gaston Gilbert Litaize was a French organist and composer. Considered one of the 20th century masters of the French organ, he toured, recorded, worked at churches, and taught students in and around Paris...
, and Naji Hakim
Naji Hakim
Naji Subhy Paul Irénée Hakim is a Lebanese-French organist, composer, and improviser. He studied under Jean Langlais, and succeeded Messiaen as organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris.-Biography:...
at the International Organist Festival in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
.
On 4 July 2010, he played with the harpist Andrea Voets in concert at the Festival de la Ribagorza in the
Basílica de la Peña de Graus in Graus
Graus
Graus is a village in the Spanish province of Huesca, located in the Pyrenees at the confluence of rivers Esera and Isabena. It is the administrative capital of the region. It is one of the areas of Aragon in which is still preserved the Aragonese language....
.
As part of the Boni-Musikwochen 2010 in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden, celebrating 25 Jahre Reger-Chor, he performed a recital, including Reger's Toccata from op. 59 and Scherzo from op. 65, and Mendelssohn's Variations sérieuses
Variations Sérieuses
The Variations sérieuses, Op. 54, is a set of variations, many of them requiring a virtuoso technique, on a theme in D minor by Felix Mendelssohn, lasting about twelve minutes in performance. It was completed on 4 June 1841....
. In a concert with the choir he performed the last movement of Bach's cantata
Bach cantata
Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....
BWV 134a, Van Nuffel's In convertendo Dominus and Reger's Requiem. He played Jongen's Prelude et fugue op. 121, Charles Tournemire
Charles Tournemire
Charles Tournemire was a French composer and organist, notable partly for his improvisations, which were often rooted in the music of Gregorian chant...
's Victimae paschali, and Marcel Dupré
Marcel Dupré
Marcel Dupré , was a French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue.-Biography:Marcel Dupré was born in Rouen . Born into a musical family, he was a child prodigy. His father Albert Dupré was organist in Rouen and a friend of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, who built an organ in the family house when...
's Prelude et fugue op. 7/3.
Recordings
Several of the Kathedraalconcerten have been recorded, works for organ, including three of eight sonatas of Alexandre GuilmantAlexandre Guilmant
Félix-Alexandre Guilmant was a French organist and composer.- Short biography :Guilmant was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer...
, and works for organ with pan flute
Pan flute
The pan flute or pan pipe is an ancient musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting usually of five or more pipes of gradually increasing length...
and trumpet. He appears with Organ Sonata op. 175 of Louis Maes on a Jubileum CD celebrating 150 years Bruges conservatory (1997).
He has participated in recordings of choral music:
- Joseph RyelandtJoseph RyelandtJoseph Ryelandt was a Belgian classical composer.-Life:Joseph Victor Marie Ryelandt was born in Bruges, into a wealthy bourgeois family, for whom culture, tradition, and the Roman Catholic religion mattered. So did music, which the family practiced a lot...
: Sacred choral works, with Greta De Reyghere, Collegium Instrumentale Brugense, Capella Brugensis, conductor Patrick Peire (1997) http://www.flandersmusic.be/document.php?ID=772 - Francis PoulencFrancis PoulencFrancis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
, Gabriel FauréGabriel FauréGabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
, with Hilde Coppé, Collegium Instrumentale Brugense, Jan van der CrabbenJan van der CrabbenJan van der Crabben is a Belgian baritone singer.Born in 1964 in Ghent, Belgium, van der Crabben studied music at the Etterbeek Academy under the direction of Aquiles Delle Vigne and subsequently at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels...
, Capella Brugensis, conductor Patrick Peire (2000) http://www.flandersmusic.be/document.php?ID=1462 - Max RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
: Hebbel-RequiemRequiem (Reger)The Requiem, Op. 144b, is a late Romantic composition of Max Reger, also called Hebbel Requiem, a setting of Friedrich Hebbel's poem Requiem. Reger wrote it in 1915 for alto solo, chorus and orchestra...
and organ works, with Reger-Chor-InternationalReger-ChorThe Reger-Chor is a project choir founded in 1985 and conducted by Gabriel Dessauer in Wiesbaden. Since 2001 it has grown to Reger-Chor-International in a collaboration with the organist Ignace Michiels of the St. Salvator's Cathedral of Bruges, performing an annual concert both in Germany and...
, conductor Gabriel DessauerGabriel DessauerGabriel Dessauer is a German cantor, concert organist and academic. He has been responsible for the church music at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden, since 1981. He is an internationally known organ recitalist and an organ teacher on the faculty of the Gutenberg University of Mainz...
(2001, recorded live in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden) - Max RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
: Der 100. Psalm, Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue in E minor, op. 127, with Reger-Chor-InternationalReger-ChorThe Reger-Chor is a project choir founded in 1985 and conducted by Gabriel Dessauer in Wiesbaden. Since 2001 it has grown to Reger-Chor-International in a collaboration with the organist Ignace Michiels of the St. Salvator's Cathedral of Bruges, performing an annual concert both in Germany and...
, conductor Gabriel DessauerGabriel DessauerGabriel Dessauer is a German cantor, concert organist and academic. He has been responsible for the church music at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden, since 1981. He is an internationally known organ recitalist and an organ teacher on the faculty of the Gutenberg University of Mainz...
(2003, recorded live in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden) http://www.ohscatalog.org/regerpsalm100.html - Johan DuijckJohan DuijckJohan Duijck is a Belgian composer and conductor.He is the conductor of the Flemish Radio Choir, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chorus in London and the Gents Madrigaalkoor...
: El Camino de Alma - de Weg van de Ziel, with Hilde Coppé, Collegium Instrumentale Brugense, Noëlle Schepens, Vlaams Radio Koor (VRK), Hans Ryckelynck, Gents Madrigaalkoor, conductor Johan Duijck (2008) http://www.flandersmusic.be/document.php?ID=4657 - Johan DuijckJohan DuijckJohan Duijck is a Belgian composer and conductor.He is the conductor of the Flemish Radio Choir, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chorus in London and the Gents Madrigaalkoor...
: Cantiones Sacrae, with Vlaams Radio Koor, conductor Johan Duijck (2009) http://www.flandersmusic.be/document.php?ID=5417
External links
- Ignace Michiels on the website Kathedraalconcerten
- Ignace Michiels on the website of the cathedral (in Flemish)