Jan Boerman (30 June 1923 – 25 October 2020)

27 October 2020

On 25 October 2020, Jan Boerman (* 30 June 1923) passed away in his hometown of The Hague.
Together with Ton Bruynèl and Dick Raaijmakers, Jan Boerman was one of the pioneers of electronic music in the Netherlands. He composed his electronic works successively in the studios of Delft University of Technology, Utrecht University, the private studio with Raaijmakers, and the Royal Conservatoire, where he was active as a teacher from 1974.

Boerman leaves behind him an extensive oeuvre in which electronic music takes a prominent place, and for which in 1982 he received the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize. In 1997 he received the Willem Pijper Prize for his electronic composition Vocalise 1994, and in 1998 an Edison Prize for the CD box set The Complete Tape Music of Jan Boerman.

Page from the manuscript of Boerman’s electronic composition “De zee” (1964–1965).