The term Rotterdam School is used to refer to a group of composers related to the city of Rotterdam.[1]
What started in the final decade of the twentieth century within a small circle of composition students at the Rotterdam Conservatory with a manifesto[2] by Rotterdam composer Oscar van Dillen, has been taken more seriously now in larger musical circles.[3] Many Rotterdam composers have made successful careers in contemporary or theatre music.[3]
It is impossible to accommodate all Rotterdam composers together in one kind of style or musical æsthetic.[1] Therefore, one could not really speak of a school in the traditional meaning of the word.[1]
The colloquium (called "practicums") at the Rotterdam Conservatoire, led by composition teachers Peter-Jan Wagemans and Klaas de Vries, played an important, unifying role.[3]