In 1969 he concluded his studies and was awarded the Prize for Composition. The vast majority of Keuris's music has been written on commission. Tristan Keuris died on 15 December 1996 in Amsterdam. A composer should continuously lead the public astray. Music is not served by truth.
Good music exists by the grace of cunning and deception.
Artist and craftsman rolled into one A striking characteristic in Tristan Keuris's music is the harmonious combination of what in French is so neatly termed l'artiste et l'artisan - of the artist and the craftsman. Keuris had a knack for couching his compositional innovations in finely wrought constructions whose highly idiomatic instrumental and vocal lines, which are largely free of unusual effects, are interwoven into very refined orchestrations. The various orchestral timbres do not serve as decor but exert instead a formative influence on the dialogue between the horizontal and vertical elements. Composing, arranging and instrumentation are variants of one and the same creative process and could hardly be considered separately in Keuris's music. Keuris's craftsmanship was paired with an openness towards tradition.