Dick Le Mair

Dick was born in The Hague (Netherlands) and grew up in a family where music played an important role. His father was a church organist, so Dick often sat high up in the church, next to the keyboard of an imposing organ, watching and listening to his father play the organ. The piano in the house became an object favoured by Dick. He played music he heard on records and the church music he knew. And soon classical music by Bach and Mozart appeared on the lectern. But soon after, Dick discovered rock 'n roll. The piano was left untouched and classical music was no longer being played by Dick. He started playing drums in local rock bands and soon took lessons from local jazz drummers and orchestral percussionists. He then went to the conservatory to study percussion and composition with Fred Krens (drums, light music), Willem Heesen (orchestral percussion), David Friedman (vibraphone jazz improvisation), Jim Gordon (vibraphone and marimba, modern composed work), Jan Laurens Hartong (Latin percussion, salsa), Ruud Bos and Ab Schaap (composition/arranging). At the conservatory there were quite a few namesakes (Dick) among the percussionists, which is why Dick was active for a while under the name Evert Le Mair.

After his studies, he made concert tours of Europe, South America, Canada and Australia and was a guest lecturer at the University of Sydney, Caracas, Odense and Porto. He made radio and CD recordings in many European countries and Canada. In recent years Dick has been mainly active as a composer/arranger, percussionist/vibraphonist and conductor/teacher. He wrote documentary music for German TV, made tunes and orchestral works commissioned by VPRO and EO (Dutch broadcasters) and produced/arranged orchestral recordings for record companies such as EMI, CNR and SONY.

Here is a list with works of Dick that have been published by Tierolff.

Dick as composer:

Website Dick Le Mair >>>