Gerrit Chr. de Gier
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Gerrit Christiaan de Gier studied with Nico van den Hooven and Jan Welmers at the Utrecht Conservatory. He took his finals as a teacher and performer (with distinction) in 1987, and graduated from the Netherlands Institute for Church Music with special mention of improvisation, which he studied with Jan Raas and Jan Welmers. He attended classes in interpretation at the Haarlem Summer Academy with Martin Haselböck, Daniel Roth and Gisbert Schneider, and at the International Meisterkurze für Musik in Zürich with Jean Guillou, and he was taught privately by Jean-Paul Imbert in Paris.
As a student, Gerrit Christiaan de Gier won third prize at the International Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival in Deventer in 1982. In 1990 he won first prize at the International Rijnstreek Organ Competition in Nijmegen.
Gerrit Christiaan de Gier has a wide repertoire as a recitalist; he has made numerous radio broadcasts and has collaborated in special projects. He performed all the organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach on the Van Vulpen organ in the Oude Sint-Nicolaaskerk in IJsselstein (province of Utrecht), where he was organist for many years. His recitals have taken him to countries including France, Germany, South Africa and Switzerland. His thematic recital programmes and performances of the great organ works of César Franck, Franz Liszt, Max Reger, Alexandre Guilmant, Louis Vierne and Charles-Marie Widor have met with wide appreciation.
Gerrit Christiaan de Gier has an extensive teaching practice in Utrecht and Gouda (Orgelkunst Gouda). As organist of the Jacobikerk in Utrecht he is frequently invited to sit on assessment committees.