Bio

Harry de Wit (Ommen, 1952) found his musical path from an early age. For a number of years he was part of various experimental pop and jazz bands, and worked, amongst others, with Kees van Zelst, Philipp Wachsmann, Lawrence "Butch" Morris and he founded the group Cumulus with a.o. Ab Baars and Wolter Wierbos. Soon after, he started collaborating with the visual arts and dance as an improvising musician. Later on this also lead him to theatre and film. His unceasing search for new and enticing sounds has resulted in a great number of specially designed and developed instruments.

He made his first installations and spatial commissions in the city of Groningen, where together with choreographer Beppie Blankert he founded the company Mezzing. It was also for dance that he created his first non-improvised compositions. His love for dance has never faded since, and his music has been featured in many dance performances. A small selection of the vast amount of choreographers De Wit has collaborated with: Ton Lutgerink, Hans van Manen, Laurie Booth, Lucinda Childs, Shusaku Takeuchi, Ed Wubbe, Michael Schumacher, Meg Stuart and Pieter de Ruijter & Eva Villanueva. In 2006 he received the Prize of the Dutch Dance Festival in Maastricht for his contributions to modern dance.

He has also developed a name as a solo-artist, and is asked for special location-specific projects and collaborations. Again, a small selection: In Rouen in 1985 he set up the spectacular "Concert pour Centrale Electrique" in an empty power station. "Eglise Electrique" followed in Rennes; In Karlsruhe "Song for the Pigeons" at the opening of the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie; "Gevels" at the opening of the Holland Festival in 1998. For the Soundsofmusic Festival in 2011, he enchanted the Der Aa-Kerk in Groningen with the installation "Dalend Rood".

In the 90s and 90s De Wit made music-theatre performances ‘Embodiment’ with Shusaku Takeuchi, ‘Blanco’ with Elise Lorraine, ‘Robinson’ with Rieks Swarte and the opera ‘Fausto’ with Jan Ritsema. He was also involved with several performances directed by Gerrit Timmers and Mirjam Koen at the Onafhankelijk Toneel.

His special timbre and musical inventiveness did not go unnoticed by theatre directors. He has been able to accompany countless performances, among others, directed by Ivo van Hove, Johan Doesburg, Pierre Audi, Ger Thijs and Gerardjan Rijnders. He received the Proscenium Prize for this theatre-oeuvre in 2005.

Since the early 1980s, De Wit has composed for ensembles, orchestras and / or choirs. With Vleugelblik he wrote his first score in 1980 for Mezzing. Then Wantij followed in 1984 for Stichting Dansproduktie; Om en Om, in 1988 for Kaaitheater and Shaffy Theater; Architectonaal in 1990 for Tamam; Fausto - a mini opera about the life of Fausto Coppi- in 1990; Robinson in 1992 for Walpurgis; Wetterwyfke in 1995 for de Karavaan; Whispers of Heavenly Death in 2003 for the Koorbiënnale Haarlem and On Edge or not at all, in 2005 for the Philharmonie Haarlem.

De Wit also composes filmscores for both documentary- and feature films. De Wit's regular collaborators include Marjoleine Boonstra, Aliona van der Horst, Nanouk Leopold, Ben van Lieshout, Niek Koppen, Annette Apon and Frans Weisz. In 2010 he received a Golden Calf nomination for his score for "Brownian Movement" by Nanouk Leopold. In 2018 he won the Golden Calf for Leopold's "Cobain".