Piet van der Steen

Piet van der Steen studied organ at Utrecht conservatory with Cor Kee and Nico van den Hooven; he continued his studies in Paris with Marie-Claire Alain, Gaston Litaize and André Isoir. In 1976 he won the First Prize at the “Nationaal Concours César Franck” in Haarlem. For a number of years he concentrated on the music of Alain, Duruflé, Franck, Messiaen, Boëllmann and Vierne, and on Dutch composers such as Andriessen, Van der Horst, Bijster, De Leeuw, Manneke and Straesser. Not infrequently Van der Steen managed to rediscover and perform valuable unknown works. In 1989 he released a widely praised album with the complete organ works of Maurice Duruflé. Shortly thereafter appeared Louis Vierne’s complete cycle of 24 ‘Pieces de fantaisie’ (both on Marcato Records). Also noteworthy was the ‘La jeune France’ project: Piet van der Steen recorded all works for and with organ by Olivier Messiaen, André Jolivet and Daniel Lesur. These recordings were released on album on the label ‘Eigenwijs’. Various Dutch composers dedicated works to him: Hendrik Andriessen, Cor Kee, Daan Manneke, Joep Straesser (3x), Kees Weggelaar, Peter Adriaansz. In 1985 and 1998 he received an award from a French cultural foundation; in 2004 he was awarded the ‘Straesser Verster-prize’ by the composer Joep Straesser (1934- 2004) for his frequent performances of this composers’ organ works. Piet van der Steen has performed on most of the larger organs in The Netherlands; he is organist of the Oud-Katholieke Kathedrale Kerk in Utrecht, teaches organ privately, and conducts several choirs.