Jacobus Kloppers
Encyclopedia
Jacobus Kloppers (born 1937 in Krugersdorp) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 composer, musicologist and organist. He has composed many notable pieces, especially for organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

, and has been the subject of substantial scholarship.

Biography

Born in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, Kloppers completed his Doctorate in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, Germany. In 1966, Kloppers returned to South Africa to teach, compose and perform, immigrated to Canada with his family in the mid 1970s in protest to the Apartheid policy ref>http://www.seemagazine.com/article/music/music-feature/kloppers1022/ - correction to incorrect quotation from live interview

Kloppers settled in Edmonton, Canada, and worked as a private instructor and church musician. In 1978, he was interviewed for a part time position at a small Christian college, The King's University College (Edmonton)
King's University College (Edmonton)
The King's University College is a private liberal arts college, located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The University was founded by members of the Christian Reformed Church who saw a need for a regional, trans-denominational, Christian college in Western Canada...

, that was to open the next year. The college hired him full time to develop a music program. He taught organ, music history, and musicology and was chair of the music program until his retirement in 2008. Kloppers is also an Adjunct Professor of Organ at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...

, an Honorary Fellow of the RCCO, the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers
Canadian League of Composers
The Canadian League of Composers is an organization formed in 1951 of Canadian composers primarily interested in raising awareness and acceptance of Canadian music. The activities of the League are overseen and directed by an executive and a National Council...

.

Kloppers was important in Edmonton's Winspear Centre acquiring the Davis Concert Organ, a world-renowned instrument.

In 2009, Kloppers was inducted into Edmonton's Cultural Hall of Fame. In 2011, the University of the Free State
University of the Free State
The University of the Free State is situated in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State, South Africa. The university also has a satellite campus in Qwaqwa that was, until 2003, part of the University of the North.-Academic Divisions:...

 began a project to collect and house a complete collection of Kloppers' work.

External links

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