Pieter van der Staak was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 classical guitarist

Classical guitar

The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...

, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and professor of music.

Education

As a guitarist Pieter van der Staak was self-taught till he met Andrés Segovia

Andrés Segovia

Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...

 in 1954. From 1955 to 1959 he studied guitar with Segovia and with Alirio Diaz

Alirio Diaz

Alirio Díaz is a Venezuelan classical guitarist.The eighth of eleven children, Díaz was born in Caserio La Candelaria, a small village near Carora in western Venezuela. From childhood he showed a great interest in music. At age 16 he ran away from home to Carora, where he sought better schooling...

 in Sienna. With Emilio Pujol

Emilio Pujol

Emili Pujol Vilarrubí was a composer and the leading twentieth century musicologist and classical guitar teacher.- Biography :...

 he studied the vihuela

Vihuela

Vihuela is a name given to two different guitar-like string instruments: one from 15th and 16th century Spain, usually with 12 paired strings, and the other, the Mexican vihuela, from 19th century Mexico with five strings and typically played in Mariachi bands.-History:The vihuela, as it was known...

 and ancient music notation. Both, Alirio Diaz and Emilio Pujol became life long friends of Pieter van der Staak. He studied composition with Wolfgang Wijdeveld and the guitar at the Maastricht Academy of Music with Hans Lutz Niessen.

Activities

Pieter van der Staak combined his interest in writing for the guitar with teaching activities and concertising. He made several LP records with i.e. the well-known singer Willy Brill, the tenor Arjan Blanken and his wife Maria Hol, a professional violoncellist. With Willy Brill and with Maria Hol, he gave concerts all over the world.

Besides his many activities Pieter van der Staak was the 1st professor of guitar at the Municipal Music Highschool ARTez in Zwolle where he trained and educated several generations of fine classical guitarists.

Pieter van der Staak also established the well-known Dutch International Guitarweeks Zwolle. A festival regarded as one of the oldest and best known guitar courses. Here young and talented guitar students can study guitar techniques, interpretation and stage presentation under the guidance of international renowned guitarists.

Compositions

He composed a large number of chamber music, among which are works for string quartet, clarinet quintet and cello trio. He wrote many didactic pieces for one up to four guitars because he felt involved with the development of new didactical material. Besides compositions for cello ensemble and accordion orchestra, he composed music for less common combinations such as guitar, flute and clarinet. He wrote many works for guitar teaching, published by Ars Nova (Sweden), Hortensia (Paris), Suvini Zerboni (Milano) and Broekmans & Van Poppel (Amsterdam).
Concertino III, for solo guitar and guitar quartet (1970) is published by Donemus. Recently the Canadian publishing house Les Productions d'OZ issued several unknown works composed by Pieter van der Staak.

External links

Text with photos:

• http://www.mandolineorkest.nl/informatie/enpieter.htm

Text with photos and music sample:

• http://www.mandolineorkest.nl/samples/enstaak.htm

Pieter van der Staak as the founder of the 'International Guitarweeks Zwolle' - http://www.guitarfestivalzwolle.nl -

Pieter van der Staak - donemus.nl http://donemus.nl/componist.php?id=280