a biography
 The composer Gerard Schurmann
was born of Dutch parents in the former Dutch East Indies. He left his home
at an early age and grew up in England.
At the age of 21, Schurmann began to combine his concert career as a pianist with the
position of acting Cultural Attaché at the Netherlands Embassy in London. This continued
for several years until Eduard van Beinum, the conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra
in Amsterdam, helped him attain the position of resident orchestral conductor at the Dutch Radio
in Hilversum. At the end of his contract there, he returned to England
determined to devote his
life mainly to composition, henceforth limiting his conducting activities to guest appearances.
In 1980, he was invited by the U.S. State Department to tour orchestras and universities in the
United States, a five months visit also partly sponsored by the British Council. In 1981,
Schurmann moved to the USA, where he settled in the Hollywood Hills, California. He continues to
receive commissions for concert works and was at one time associated with the Pittsburgh Symphony
Orchestra through the conductor Lorin Maazel who introduced his music, first with the Cleveland
Orchestra and subsequently in Pittsburgh.
His music (see Works) is published by Novello & Co. Ltd., and his
compositions have been recorded on CBS, Nonesuch, EMI, Chandos, Virgin Classics, Albany, Pye,
Silva Classics, GDI, United Artists, and Cloud Nine.
"It is impossible for a composer to bridge the widening gap between
sophisticated creative processes of the day and the listener with integrity:
the result of the most fervent desire to communicate can be put to the test
only within oneself, measured against the yardstick of personal experience.
Any deliberate attempt to work on the speculative basis of current market
and fashion values is inevitably doomed, because such contrivances, being
essentially self-deluding, remove the basic premise of the creative function.
On a different level, it is a sobering thought that none of us will ever
know whether we have made the right artistic decisions, since this will
be determined long after we are gone. I believe in communication - but there
must be individuality. In the chaos in which we live, a strong personal
statement is in the end the only thing of any interest."
- Gerard Schurmann, writing
in 'The Listener'
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