DIMITRI ARNAUTS - Composer &  Designer

WEBDESIGN & TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

 

 

Dimitri Arnauts (°1973) is a composer who has dedicated himself to uplift and delight hearts, souls and minds through the reaffirmed beauty of melody, harmony, polyphony and counterpoint, and through the innumerable colors of instruments and human voices.

 

Born in 1973 in Brussels, Dimitri turns 48 this year and lives near the capital of Belgium.

 

He first explored the vocal music of Johann Sebastian Bach through a major masterpiece, the Mass in B Minor, (tenor voice) performing it several times with the University Choir of the UCL-Clerlande under the direction of Pr. Dr. Philippe Mercier, both in Belgium and abroad (Paris, Madeleine Church, etc...).

  

After a brief participation in the former Choir and Orchestra Aurora Nova leaded by S.Feye, he embarked on a journey with the Choir of the Chapelle des Minimes in Brussels: singing 2 or more Bach cantatas each month during seven years, under the direction of J.Vanherenthals mainly.

 

He has thus performed around 140 Bach cantatas as a tenor / baryton chorister, as well as the two Bach passions, Christmas, Easter and Ascension Oratorios, etc...

 

From 2004 on Dimitri could dedicate more time to compose music, and has since written about 900 works of various sizes and settings, being mainly cantatas, psalms, oratorios, concertos, symphonies and symphonic poems, and other vocal or orchestral works.

 

As an autodidact, Dimitri feels free to follow the paths of his heart, both in the aesthetics of his music as in the emotion and message it aims to convey. 

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​His first concert contribution as a composer occurred in June 2012, when an excerpt of his tone setting of Psalm 100 (11') was performed by the Choir and Orchestra of the Chapelle des Minimes in Brussels, under the direction of J.Stenzel. 

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In 2018 he conducted the premiere of his 'Requiem Sancti Michaelis' (msatb+orchestra, 50') at St.-Catherine Church, in Duisburg, Belgium. In May of the same year, his four-hands piano suite 'Humble Memories' was premiered at BOZAR, Brussels, on the new Maene-Barenboim straight-strung piano.

​He also completed that year choral and orchestral conducting courses, in Oxford, UK (James Jordan and Steve Pilkington, USA) and in Sherborne, UK (with Maestro Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Venezuela and Amy Bebbington, UK), and film music composition courses at the HKU Utrecht, The Netherlands (with Rens Machielse).

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He has been selected to participate in the first edition of the International Masterclass ‘Sacred Music Today’ in Stockholm, Sweden, under the high patronage of the Lutheran Church of Sweden and the Pontifical Council for Culture of the Catholic Church. He enjoyed there the tuition of acclaimed choral conductors Gary Graden and Mikael Wedar.

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The same year, his chamber music contribution to the international Flute Infinity project was premiered at the Slovacki Theatre in Krakow, Poland. This project resulted in a collective CD, issued by the DUX label, and proposed for nomination at the Polish Classical Music Awards by the label.

 

In 2019-2020, Dimitri held a position as Artistic and Choir Director of St-Cecilia's Choir at Saint-John-the-Evangelist Church in Tervuren, Belgium.

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Dimitri has published eleven LP albums of original music online, as well as 12 EP's and 35 Singles, comprising organ solo works, choral works, vocal improvisations, electronic six-part fantasies, piano and synthesizer musings, symphonic poems and two full-length concert movies, totaling about 30 hours of new music over 300+ tracks, as well as numerous creative art videos and music clips.

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His music has been premiered, performed or recorded internationally in various places: Belgium (BOZAR Brussels, Duisburg), Poland (Slovacki Theater Krakow, Tokarnia, Penderecki European Center for Contemporary Music), United Kingdom (Chester, London), Germany (Hamburg), Lebanon (Beirut), Marokko (Mohammedia), Austria (Vienna), USA (New York, Princeton, etc...)

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In early 2020, four of his planned UK symphonic premieres were cancelled due to the COVID-2019 Crisis and ensuing international restrictions. 

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During this COVID-19 Confinement period, he composed and produced a set of music videos with new original soundtracks, in collaboration with several established or upcoming artists from the USA, Lebanon, Austria, Belgium, Japan, Poland, Angola, Puerto-Rico, Kenya and Hungary.

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​Some of these videos were shown at opening ceremonies of United Nations' conferences and events in Geneva and New York.

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Those made for tenor Nelson Ebo were nominated for and awarded a High Commendation in the category 'Best Digital Project for a Musician' at the 2020 Classical Music Digital Awards in the United Kingdom. 

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His cooperation with British violinist Miriam Kramer on commemorating the victims of the Holocaust in 2021 was recognized and endorsed by the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem.

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In the fall of 2023, his first opera, 'The Hidden Gold', a youth opera for chamber ensemble (120'), three choirs and soloists, is scheduled for creation at the old Laeiszhalle-Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany - set to its own libretto in verse form.

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His second opera, 'Mateo' (200'), is a grandiose historical drama about corruption, temptation and merciless justice in the context of a very profitable African colony. 

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He is also working on a third shorter opera/mystery play to a libretto by the Moroccan artist and poet Chouki.

 

His Art Song 'Civilization'  has received the Special Award Ex Aequo for Best Direction at the 1º Concorso di Canto Lirico Virtuale SOI Scuola dell'Opera Italiana Fiorenza Cedolins  (Italy) in May 2021.

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​Dimitri is founding member of the international composer collective Muse11, and an active member of the Flemish Composers' Archipelago COMAV...

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https://www.dimitriarnauts.com/