Frans de Ruiter (1946-2025)

On July 16, Frans de Ruiter passed away. He had been a crucial force in establishing and developing AR in the Low Countries, with influences stretching far beyond.

Born in Utrecht, The Netherlands, de Ruiter studied harpsichord and musicology. His career in Dutch music organisations was impressive from the start: at 29, he became director of the Holland Festival (Amsterdam 1975-85), during which time he co-founded and started directing the Early Music Festival (Utrecht, 1982-1994). He took on additional and overarching roles as, amongst others, founder and chairman of the Kunsten '92 interest group (1992-1999), president of the European Festivals Association (1989-2004), and President of the UNESCO associated International Music Council (Paris, 1997-2001 & 2009-2013).

In 1985, after his position at the Holland Festival, de Ruiter added education to his portfolio, as director of the Royal Conservatoire The Hague (1985-2006) and president of the board of the University of the Arts The Hague (1990-2011). He co-founded the Dutch National Opera Academy (DNOA), and was responsible for eye- and ear-catching composer-in-residence events at the Conservatoire, inviting e.g. Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel for large-scale festival-type collaborations.

When AR came on the radar, with the Bologna Declaration, de Ruiter was instrumental in helping to extablish docARTES, the multi-national multi-university/conservatoire doctoral programme for musicians at the Orpheus Insitute in Belgium. He was professor and dean of the new Faculty (later Academy) of Creative and Performing Arts of Leiden University (2001-2016), which he initiated. In his capacity as promotor of doctoral candidates, de Ruiter handled many dozens of succesful AR PhD trajectories. 

De Ruiter's energy was astounding, even in his final years. Meetings with promovendi, of whose dissertations he never failed to read every single sentence, would take place wherever roads could be organised to cross, be it at some international airport, at a highway restaurant, at his or someone else's home, while near-continuously travelling around the globe to festivals, conferences, or board meetings, and finding hotels where he could comply with his swimming routine. His 5-year planner with countless to-do glosses in the tiniest of pencil writing achieved legendary status amongst those who worked with him. Artistically, he was as much of an omnivore as in his organisational work: despite his era's separation of expertise, with early and new music specialisms characteristically the single focus in most other careers, de Ruiter would remain keenly interested in all types of music making. With one eye always on the long-term macro level of what needed to be done, he never neglected the smaller challenges, such as putting his unusually extensive network to use for engaging co-promotors, wherever they could be found, or for tapping into the financial resources of some obscure foundation to help support a student. 

AR has much to owe to Frans for his indefatigable and visionary work. In his own words, he was certainly "the right man at the right place". 

Thank you, Frans.