Organ lunchbreakconcert with Bert Mooiman

The pianist, organist, church musician and music theorist Bert Mooiman studied at the Royal Conservatory (The Hague). He obtained the diplomas of Performing Musician piano (with Theo Bruins) and organ (with Wim van Beek, improvisation with Bert Matter) cum laude, and received the Fock medal for his special artistic achievements. He has won prizes at international organ competitions in a.o. Groningen and Ljubljana. He completed the main subject of Music Theory in 2003 with the article ‘Olivier Messiaen and French harmony’, which was honoured with the Martin J. Lürsen Prize.

From 1993 to 2000 he worked as a piano soloist for Dutch National Ballet. Since 2000 he has been a teacher of music theory, piano and improvisation and a research supervisor at the Royal Conservatoire. In 2021, he obtained his PhD at Leiden University with the thesis ‘An Improvisatory Approach to Nineteenth-Century Music’, becoming the first Dutch pianist with a PhD in music. He is involved in various international projects on improvisation education, and has been a guest lecturer in London, Bucharest and Graz, among others. He publishes on music theory topics and lectures for HOVO at Leiden University.

From his background as a classical ‘keyboard player’, Bert Mooiman is a warm advocate for historical keyboard instruments. His instrument collection includes a clavichord and various historic grand pianos and harmoniums. From 1989 to 2024 he was regular organist of the Nieuwe Badkapel (The Hague), where he was closely involved in the restoration of the Van Dam organ from 1926. Until 2011 he was also titular organist of the Grote of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk in Breda. As an organist, Bert Mooiman is a regular guest with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Residentie Orkest.

photo Bert Mooiman by Hans Schellevis