Willem Tanke

In the 21st century Willem Tanke became increasingly known as an improviser and a performing composer, solo and with other musicians.

Willem Tanke (born April 4, 1959 in Hengelo, the Netherlands) is an organist and acclaimed recitalist known for his interpretations of works by J.S. Bach, Max Reger, Olivier Messiaen and contemporary composers.

In addition he is noted for his own musical language as an improviser and a performing composer.

As a teenager, he was drawn especially to wanting to play the organ by the religiously-inspired music of J.S. Bach and Olivier Messiaen, and also John Coltrane.

Between 1972 and 1988 Willem Tanke was organist to various Roman Catholic churches in Hengelo and De Bilt.

Willem Tanke studied organ and improvisation with Jan Welmers, music theory with Joep Straesser and electronic music with Ton Bruynel at Utrecht Conservatory from 1977 till 1985.

He concluded his studies with the Performance Diploma for Organ with full marks (the grade of 10 and honours), and also with diplomas for music theory and improvisation.

In 1984 he sent a recording of Olivier Messiaen's Livre d'orgue to the composer and received an enthusiastic letter from Messiaen's wife, the pianist Yvonne Loriod, assisting him to obtain a scholarship from the Dutch government and the Prins Bernhard Foundation for advanced studies of Messiaen's organ works, which he undertook with Jennifer Bate in London and Almut Rößler in Düsseldorf in the late '80s.

In the early part of his career Willem Tanke specialized in the interpretation of organ works by Olivier Messiaen, Max Reger and late 20th century composers.

Willem Tanke was a professor of organ as a main subject at Utrecht University of Professional Arts Education from 1988 until 2000.

From 1989 until 2003 he was organist at St. Willibrordus Church in Berkel-Enschot, where he made recordings for his CDs, "My friend the Indian and other pieces" and "Imaginary Day".

His SuperAudioCD "Meditations for a lent" consists entirely of recordings made at the Loret organ in Berkel-Enschot.

In 1994 he performed Messiaen's complete organ works in Haarlem (the Netherlands) and Puebla and Guadalajara (Mexico).

Tanke issued his own improvisations and compositions on CD and SuperAudioCD between 1997 and 2007.

From then onwards he published his music in particular on his YouTube channel.

1997 CD Spiritual Homeland works for Yamaha SY99 synthesizer

Between 1998 and 2000 he was also organist of the Scots International Reformed Church in Rotterdam.

Accompanying the African choir there, he learnt around forty songs from in particular Ghana and Cameroon.

1999 8 CD-box Olivier Messiaen Complete Organ Works

Since 2001 he has been teaching theory and improvisation at Codarts, University for the Arts, Rotterdam.

2001 CD My friend the Indian and other pieces with Hans Kulk, analogue synthesizer, Martijn Alsters, wind midi controller and René van Commenée, percussion

2005 CD Imaginary Day - 21 Fantasies for organ

In 2006 he developed the 'rolling wrist' technique: the wrist rolls over the keyboard in order to produce fluent clusters and suggest micro-tones.

From 2006 until 2008 he carried out research for Codarts World Music Research Group called "The Art of Doing Nothing".

This research aimed at "improving mental and physical preconditions for musicianship by creating a good balance between performing, improvising and composing, with the help of analysis and research."

For the instruction of students who participated in "The Art of Doing Nothing" the following text was used:

"At the beginning there is silence, which allows a good performing attitude to develop, with a calm, concentrated mind, a relaxed body and steady breathing from the lower stomach. With this attitude improvisation results in, for example, a number of rhythmic patterns and melodies. Of these, the most interesting are remembered, recorded, or written down on paper. Gradually, after some hours, days, or even months, a certain structure will be developed, based on the composer's judgment of the right balance between repetition, variation and contrast. At the end, the various improvisations crystallize into a composition. This composition has to be learned by heart, because the discipline of memorizing the rhythmic patterns and melodies is necessary for developing the freedom from which new improvisations can be created. This procedure has a certain resemblance to improvising and composing in, for instance, classical Indian and Iranian music.

Brief compositions may be the starting-point for numerous improvisations that can ultimately lead to new compositions.

The process is somewhat similar to the continuous changes that take place in any living language."

In 2006 and 2007 Willem Tanke lectured at symposia at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, organized by the ITC-Sangeet Research Academy.

2006 Super Audio CD Max Reger - Variationen und Fuge fis-moll  über ein Originalthema op. 73; Willem Tanke - Two Wind Fantasies 

2006 Super Audio CD Max Reger - Variationen und Fuge fis-moll  über ein Originalthema op. 73; Willem Tanke - Two Wind Fantasies 

2007 Remastered 8 CD-box Olivier Messiaen Complete Organ Works

2007 Super Audio CD Meditations for a lent

As a composer:

In 2008 he gave a lecture-recital at a symposium on Olivier Messiaen organized by the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (Belgium).

2008 2 DVD-set Olivier Messiaen Livre d’ orgue/Organ Works 

As a primary artist - improviser/performing composer

In 2018 he created a website called "Playing Keyboard Instruments in the 21st Century" in order to document his expertise in playing the pipe organ, the piano and synthesizers/keyboards.

As a primary artist - classical organist