About Me
I was born in Amsterdam in 1974 and started piano lessons at age 11. Back then, it was Beethoven or nothing—until I got my hands on an electric guitar. From that moment, Prince and funk took over. Listening to the album Parade turned me on to the possibilities of mixing classical orchestra with pop production. I went on to study Jazz Arranging and Composition with Jurre Haanstra at the Hilversum Conservatory, later expanding into Classical Composition at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Daan Manneke and Theo Verbey. Along the way, I took guest lessons with George Crumb, traveled to The Gambia to explore Wolof music, and immersed myself in the rhythmic complexities of South Indian Carnatic music theory.
In 2002, I received the NOG Encouragement Prize from the Netherlands Ballet Orchestra (Holland Symfonia) for my orchestral work Fast Lane Woodpecker. Since then, I’ve written for ensembles including Orkest de Volharding, Nieuw Ensemble, Nederlands Strijkers Gilde, Netherlands Vocal Laboratory, Doelen String Quartet, Asko|Schönberg, and the Dutch Radio Chamber Philharmonic. My Piano Concerto, premiered by Ralph van Raat at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 2009, was widely acclaimed, and in 2012 I returned to the Saturday Matinee with my oratorio The Trees of Paradise. My music has also been performed at the Holland Festival.
My music is often described as melodic, accessible, and rhythmically driven. I aim for an intelligent synthesis of styles—from jazz and pop to classical and experimental. In Appalachia (2004), bluegrass, bebop, and avant-garde collide. Dead as Disco (2006) traces the fading pulse of disco through the lens of 1980s electro-pop. Whether I’m writing for chamber ensembles or full symphony orchestra, I’m always expressing a personal mix of lyricism, groove, and energy.
My recent works, Sinfonia and Death and Cadences, take this a step further—fusing classical structures with pop production, and weaving acoustic instruments together with electronic textures.