Feyen, Dagmar
Dagmar Feyen Started his music studies at seven at the Academy for Music of Mol (Belgium). He chose the piano as his instrument. Currently, he is a teacher in piano, jazz piano, harmony and keyboard harmony at the same institute. He lives with his wife Nathalie and his three children Rebecca, Catharina and Frederik in Dessel (Belgium).
After graduation from high school in 1985, he entered the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (Belgium). He got degrees in music theory, piano, chamber music and keyboard harmony. In 1989 he entered the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp (Belgium), where he studied piano with Jacques Detiège. He specialised in piano accompaniment and teaching. After 8 years, he restarted studying in September 2000 at the Zuid-Nederlandse Hogeschool voor Muziek at Tilburg (The Netherlands). Here he studied with Ton Demmers and received his Performance Degree in june 2002 (with great distinction). He also studied Jazz and Improvised music with Willem Kühne. In October 2004, Dagmar began the study of composition with Piet Swerts at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (Belgium). He ended this study in 2007 with a Master's Degree (with distinction). Dagmar Feyen followed several master classes with pianists Daniël Blumenthal (USA), Rolf Plagge (Germany), Alan Weiss (USA), Vladimir Tropp (Russia) and Jan Wijn (The Netherlands).
In 1985 en 1986 he became laureate at the National Music Competition (now Axion Classics) in the disciplines piano and accompaniment. He thereafter entered a few minor international competitions. Trio Concorde, with whom Dagmar played from 1988 till 1998, received in 1988 the Festival-Award at the prestigious Flanders Festival. In 1993 he received , as a composer, a price from the Belgian Artistic Promotion (SABAM) for his work "Prelude, Cadenza and Fugue, opus 11" for percussion ensemble and keyboard. In the "8th International Competition of Composition for Solo Instrument" from the "Associazione Culturale Musicale EURITMIA" in Povoletto (Italy) in 2007, he received the Second Award in Category B with his work "Quiet Morning" for Flute and Piano. He also was mentioned in category C with "3 Bagatelles" for flute and piano. He was finalist in the seventh Aliénor Harpsichord Composition Competition with his work "Evolutions", six preludes for harpsichord, based on the évolutions from L'Art de toucher le clavecin of Couperin.
He concertised as a soloist in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands. Although he is primarily a classical pianist, he is at home in all music genres. In April 2004, his first CD La Fiesta came out, with piano music from South American composers. For this purpose Dagmar started his own label: CaReFree Music.
As a composer, Dagmar just now starts to get his name in the picture. He mainly focuses for the time being on pedagogical repertoire and small chamber works. His work "A motionless still Balance in the Air, then Parting", especially written for Spectra Ensemble, was positively received by fellow composers and the audience. Other works received performances in Belgium, Germany and Great Britain. In March 2008 there was the première of "Evolutions" for harpsichord in the United States. This work got played also in Argentina and Japan. His choral cyclus "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was a great succes at its première performance in December 2008 and was succesfully repeated in 2009. He collaborated with Jef Neve for his first pianoconcerto and for his filmscore of "de helaasheid der dingen" from Belgian filmdirector Felix van Groeningen.
From April 2009, Dagmar is appointed at the KHLim (Belgium) as Guest Lecturer in Music Cognition at the Academy for Media & Design.