20th century
Baroque
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Solo repertoire
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Offermans Wil
Aitken, Robert
Amirov, Fikret
Amlin, Martin
Amram, David
Andriessen, Jurriaan
Arnold, Malcolm
Arrieu, Claude
Auric, Georges
Babbit, Milton
Bacchus, Peter
Bacri, Nicolas
Baker, Michael Conway
Baksa, Robert
Barber, Samuel
Barrere, Georges
Bartók, Béla Viktor János
Baton, René-Emmanuel
Beaser, Robert
Bennet, Richard Rodney
Berg, Gunnar
Berio, Luciano
Bernofsky, Lauren
Bernstein, Leonard
Bloch, Ernest
Bolling, Claude
Bon, Maarten
Bonis, Mel
Boughton, Rutland
Boulanger, Marie-Juliette
Boulez, Pierre
Bourdin, Roger
Bournonville, Armand
Bowen, Edwin York
Bozza, Eugène Joseph
Bréville, Pierre
Brings, Allen
Brotons, Salvador
Brown, Elizabeth
Brun, Georges
Burkhard, Willy
Burton, Eldin
Büsser, Henri
Camus, Pierre
Carmichael, John
Carter, Elliott
Casella, Alfredo
Chaynes, Charles
Clarke, Ian
Colgrass, Michael
Colquhoun, Michael
Copland, Aaron
Corigliano, John
Cortese, Luigi
Currier, Sebastian
Dahl, Walter Ingolf Marcus
Damase, Jean-Michel
Davidovsky, Mario
De Lorenzo, Leonardo
Debussy, Claude
Del Tredici, David
DeLaney, Charles Oliver
Delerue, Georges
Denisov, Edison
Dèsbriere, Jacques
Dick, Robert
Dinicu, Grigoraș
Dodgson, Stephen
Dohnányi, Ernő
Dubois, Pierre Max
Dukas, Paul
Durey, Louis
Dutilleux, Henri
Enescu, George
Farkas, Ferenc
Feld, Jindřich
Ferroud, Pierre-Octave
Flothuis, Marius
Folio, Cynthia
Foote, Arthur
Foss, Lukas
Françaix, Jean
Fukushima, Kazuo
Gade, Jacob
Gál, Hans
Gaubert, Philippe
Genzmer, Harald
George, Thom Ritter
Ghidoni, Armando
Gieseking, Walter
Glass, Philip
Glière, Reinhold
Golovin, Andrei
Gordeli, Otar
Grier, Lita
Griffes, Charles Tomlinson
Grinblat, Romuald
Grovlez, Gabriel
Guarnieri, Mozart Camargo
Gubajdulina, Sofia
Hahn, Reynaldo
Hailstork, Adolphus
Halphen, Fernand
Hanson, Howard Harold
Harberg, Amanda
Harbison, John
Harsányi, Tibor
Harty, Hamilton
Heiss, John
Heith, David
Henze, Hans-Werner
Higdon, Jennifer
Hindemith, Paul
Holliger, Heinz
Holmboe, Vagn
Honegger, Arthur
Hoover, Katherine
Hosokawa, Toshio
Hovhaness, Alan
Hüe, Georges Adolphe
Hurel, Philippe
Ibert, Jacques
Ichiyanagi, Toshi
Ittzés, Gergely
Ives, Charles
Jacob, Gordon
James, Bob
Jemnitz, Sándor
Jirák, Karel Boleslav
Jóhannsson, Magnús Blöndal
Jolivet, André
Jongen, Joseph
Karg-Elert, Sigfrid
Kay, Ulysses
Kelterborn, Rudolf
Ķeniņš, Tālivaldis
Kennan, Kent Wheeler
Kennedy, Martin
Kernis, Aaron Jay
Khachaturian, Aram
Kocsár, Miklós
Kodaly, Zoltan
Koechlin, Charles
Kornauth, Egon
Kraft, Leo
Krzywicki, Jan
Kupferman, Meyer
La Montaine, John
Lauber, Joseph
Lavista, Mario
Lee, Eugene
Leeuwen, Ary van
Levinson, Gerald
Liebermann, Lowell
Loudova, Ivana
Mack, Dieter
Mahler, Gustav
Maresz, Yan
Martin, Frank
Martino, Donald
Martinů, Bohuslav
Meltzer, Harold
Messiaen, Olivier
Mihalovici, Marcel
Milhaud, Darius
Mouquet, Jules
Mower, Mike
Muczynski, Robert
Nielsen, Carl
Norby, Erik
Nordenstrom, Gladys
Offermans, Wil
Olsen, Carl Gustav Sparre
Paget, Daniel
Perle, George
Petrovics, Emil
Piazzolla, Astor
Piston, Walter
Poulenc, Francis
Prokofiev, Sergey
Rachmaninoff, Sergei
Ran, Shulamit
Raphael, Günter
Rautavaara, Einojuhani
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Reynolds, Verne
Riegger, Wallingford
Rivier, Jean
Rodrigo, Joaquin
Rota, Nino
Rotaru, Doina
Rouse, Christopher
Roussel, Albert
Rutter, John
Saariaho, Kaija
Sancan, Pierre
Schmidt, Ole
Schocker, Gary
Schulhoff, Erwin
Schwantner, Joseph
Sciarrino, Salvatore
Shostakovich, Dmitri
Sibelius, Jean
Smit, Leo
Tailleferre, Germaine
Takemitsu, Tōru
Taktakishvili, Otar
Tansman, Alexandre
Tomasi, Henri
Tower, Joan
Uébayashi, Yuko
Varèse, Edgar
Vasks, Pēteris
Weigl, Vally
Weinberg, Mieczysław
Wilder, Alec
Williams, Ralph Vaughan
Yi, Chen
Yun, Isang
Zgraja, Krystof
Tsuru-no-Sugomori for Flute solo
Tsuru-no-Sugomori for Flute solo
Wil Offermans: Tsuru-no-Sugomori (Nesting of Cranes) for solo flute was written in 1999. The work is a tribute to the performance style of the late shakuhachi master Katsuya Yokoyama.
It is based on a traditional honkyoku (original music of the Zen Buddhist monks) piece. There are over ten different versions of this melody originating from various Zen temples. Offerman's piece depicts the entire life cycle of a crane: building a nest, laying eggs, hatching and raising young, and finally, the death of the parents.
It requires extensive use of lip glissandi, pitch-bending (meri/kari), and various types of vibrato (ikiyuri, yokoyuri) performed by shaking the head to mimic the shakuhachi's timbre.
"Typically, the shakuhachi player doesn't use any tonguing, but instead starts a sound from the breath and sometimes in combination with the finger (the so-called finger-tonguing!). Especially characteristic are the numerous vibrato techniques (including pitch-bending, glissandi, and portamenti). Besides the Western style vibrato, called 'ikiyuri', a vibrato can be performed by shaking the head. Swinging the head to the left and right (like shaking 'no') is called 'yokoyuri'. Shaking the head up and down (like shaking 'yes') is called 'tateyuri'. Shaking the head in circles creates the 'mawashiyuri' vibrato. When the instrument itself is quickly moved up and down, we get a 'takeyuri' vibrato. Bending the pitch down by covering the embouchure hole with the lower lip (up to a minor third!) creates the characteristic 'meri'. Bending the pitch up by uncovering the embouchure hole is called 'kari'.
Wil Offermans
Wil Offermans (flute), live performance on October 20, 2010 at the St. Alfege Church, Greenwich, London
Tsuru-no-Sugomori
Offermans Wil
Wil Offermans (1957) is a Dutch flautist and composer internationally recognized for his pioneering role in integrating extended flute techniques with cross-cultural aesthetics, particularly known for bridging Western classical music with Japanese Zen traditions.
Born in Maastricht, Netherlands, Offermans was raised in a region with a rich tradition of wind band music. His early exposure to the flute was rooted in the Dutch school of playing.
He pursued his formal musical education at the Brabants Conservatorium in Tilburg, where he studied flute with Rien de Reede (of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra).
A defining aspect of his education was his profound immersion in Japanese music. Following his graduation, he traveled to Japan to study the shakuhachi (traditional bamboo flute) and Zen philosophy.
Offerman’s career is defined by his belief that the flute is a "global instrument" capable of a vast range of timbres beyond the "pure" Western tone. His book For the Contemporary Flutist (1991) is a seminal text used to teach techniques like multiphonics, bamboo tones, and circular breathing.
He is a founding member of the Studio de l'Espace in Amsterdam, a center for electronic music and multi-media performance.
One of his most noteworthy creations was Eternal Winds for 500 flutes, which were written for the anniversary concert of the Dutch Flute Academy of Emily Beynon.