CvA alumna Eleonore Pameijer, artistic director of the Leo Smit Foundation, has received the KNVM medal. Eleonore and the Leo Smit Foundation received the award for their important contribution to the rediscovery of music by Dutch composers who were persecuted before and during World War II.
“Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Leo Smit Foundation, the history of musical life in the Netherlands before and during World War II has been enriched and rewritten,” said the jury, consisting of Julia Kursell, Petra van Langen, and Joris van Son. "The music that was not allowed to be heard sparkles - as we can hear today - like never before. From the outset, Eleonore Pameijer has been the face and driving force behind the Foundation. […] Together with the board members, staff, volunteers, and musicians of the Leo Smit Foundation, she has ensured that scholarly research and performance practice have come together in an exemplary manner over the past thirty years."
KVNM medal
The Royal Dutch Society for Music History (KVNM) awards prizes for graduation research projects, master's theses, and dissertations to reward and highlight exceptional achievements in Dutch musicology. The KVNM medal is the most prestigious prize that the society can award.
Leo Smit Foundation
Since its establishment in 1996 by Eleonore Pameijer and Frans van Ruth, the Leo Smit Foundation has been committed to reviving the music of composers who were persecuted and murdered before and during World War II. Part of this commitment is the Forbidden Music Regained festival, which took place for the fifth time last November at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. During this festival, ensembles of CvA students perform rediscovered music by persecuted composers.