Full Bio
Arie Verheul van de Ven is a Composer and Violist living between Toronto and The Hague. Arie's viola playing is informed by a fascination of the proprioceptive relationship musical instruments have with our bodies - as well as how changes in this relationship affect the sounds we make. Arie grew up as a Suzuki violinist while also studying klezmer and Canadian fiddle styles - joining an improvisation ensemble led by Kathryn Ladano at Wilfrid Laurier University has led to a lifelong fascination with the scratches, squeaks, and other unpitched noises bowed strings can make.
In addition to his work as a member of improvisation ensemble HARP+, Arie has performed in concerts presented by Soundstreams and NUMUS. In 2018 Arie performed with Lori Freedman and Nicolas Caloia as the winner of NUMUS' Emerging Improviser Contest. He regularly collaborates as a performer & composer with Jumblies Theatre and the Gather Round Singers in Toronto.
Arie's concert music has been performed internationally by the Residentie Orkest, Orkest de Ereprijs, The Cygnus Trio, and Ensemble Paramirabo. He is active as a composer for digital media in Toronto - recently writing scores for Adam Bovoletis' COOKSTOWN: The Musical, Sam Hughes' & Ellis Ozen's Ruins of Castle Island, Carol Nguyen's No Crying at the Dinner Table, and Heyishi Zhang's Web series Gay Mean Girls based on the viral short of the same name.
Arie is currently working as composer in residence for The Gather Round Singers, a community choir in Toronto that has been meeting over zoom since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this role, Arie has been involved in developing techniques to create music online in an accessible environment. This has led to a number of online-only projects, that aim to find the exciting & beautiful things about being limited to making music in online environments.
Shorter Bios
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Arie Verheul van de Ven is a composer and violist currently based in Toronto.
In his recent work, Arie has been exploring geographic relationships & the experience of location through sound. The pandemic has led to an exploration of different possibilities of remote music making, and creating music that is unique to an online space - further exploring location & distance through sound making. He is currently a composer-in-residence with the Gather Round Singers, a community choir part of Jumblies Theatre, who have been meeting on Zoom since March 2020. Together they have developed two new works Remote Choir Etudes and In This Moment, two pieces of music specifically written to be performed via zoom.
As a violist, Arie is informed by his early years as a suzuki violinist, and later time spent studying klezmer and Canadian fiddle styles. Arie regularly performs with Ontario-based free improv ensemble HARP+ along with electric harpist Grace Scheele & synthesist Dave Klassen, whose recent project HOMECOMINGS was performed remotely over an interactive website developed by creative coder Jamie Christopher Webber.
Arie is currently pursuing his masters degree at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague, where he studies with Peter Adriaansz & Yannis Kyriakides. Previously he has studied with Linda Caitlin Smith, Cameron McKittrick, Kathryn Ladano, and Christine Vlajk
Arie Verheul van de Ven is a composer and violist currently based in Toronto.
In his recent work, Arie has been exploring geographic relationships & the experience of location in sound. The pandemic has led to an exploration of possibilities of creating music that is unique to an online space. He is currently a composer-in-residence with the Gather Round Singers who have been meeting on Zoom since March 2020. Together they have developed two new works for zoom choir
As a violist, Arie is informed by his ]time spent studying klezmer and Canadian fiddle styles. Arie regularly performs with Ontario-based free improv ensemble HARP+ along with electric harpist Grace Scheele & synthesist Dave Klassen, whose recent project HOMECOMINGS was performed remotely over an interactive website developed by creative coder Jamie Christopher Webber.
Arie is currently pursuing a masters degree in composition at the Royal Conservatoire in the Hague.
Arie makes music as a composer and violist.
Arie