Dutch composer and vocalist Lieke van der Voort’s work have been described as having “rare dramatic intensity”, “a strong signature” and “a voice that is important within the new generation of composers” (Neomemoire). She focuses heavily on improvisation, physical theatrical gesture and vocal use. Her roots lie in combining jazz, new music and electronics. Lieke frequently uses her own text in her pieces, confronting the emotional-psychological impact of ongoing social issues. Current pieces include “Endings” (Jumblies Theatre 2018), “center, unrestrained” (PIVOT, Continuum Contemporary Music, 2019), IAMTHERIBCAGE (Thin Edge New Music Collective, 2019), Thought Replacement Worksheet (Émergences, 2019) and Damage/Visage (Émilie Girard-Charest, 2019). Her voice can be heard in ensemble The Band Named Crow. She is also featured on Veryan Weston’s “Make”; Schafer’s “Apocalypsis”; soundtracks of movies “The VVitch”, “Clara”, Tumbbad and “In the Tall Grass” and various Tanya Tagaq shows with Christine Duncan's Element Choir. Lieke also leads and vocalizes in Kontraband Kollektif, an art music collective, with its debut EP “Atropos” having been released in January 2018. Lieke was selected as a composer for Toronto Creative Music Lab 2017, Soundstreams Emerging Composer Workshop 2018 (under the mentorship of David Lang and James Rolfe), PIVOT 2018/19 (under the mentorship of Juliet Palmer) and participated at Banff’s International Workshop in Jazz and Creative music, where she studied under the guidance of Vijay Iyer, Tyshawn Sorey and Okkyung Lee. Her works have been supported by Canada Council of the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council.
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