Jan Willem de Vriend

Jan Willem de Vriend is Principal Conductor of the Wiener KammerOrchester, Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Partner of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He makes regular guest appearances with such ensembles as the Belgian National Orchestra, HR-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Melbourne Symphony, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony.

In the 2025/26 season, Jan Willem de Vriend returns to the Musikkollegium Winterthur, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Stavanger Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony and Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich. He will also appear in a semi-staged opera production of Lo Speziale (Director: Eva Buchmann) at the Ludwigsburger Schloßfestspiele.

Furthermore, three new recordings were recently released: Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 12 (Dejan Lazić / Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra – Challenge Records), Schumann Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 (Stavanger Symphony Orchestra – Challenge Records) and Emilie Mayer Symphonies Nos. 4 & 6 (NDR Radiophilharmonie – CPO).

Jan Willem de Vriend was Principal Conductor of the Residentie Orkest Den Haag and Chief Conductor of Phion, Orkest van Gelderland & Overijssel. He was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lille, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, South Netherlands Philharmonic and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra.

De Vriend and the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra recorded a substantial Beethoven catalogue for Challenge Classics, embracing the complete symphonies and concertos (with Hannes Minnaar and Liza Ferschtman among the soloists). Classic FM praised the interpretation of Symphony No. 7 for “a bounding flair that does real justice to the composer’s capacity for joy”. Further landmarks in the Challenge Classics catalogue are the complete Mendelssohn symphonies, again with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, and the complete symphonies of Schubert, recorded with the Residentie Orkest — also de Vriend’s orchestra for a Decca recording of Mendelssohn’s complete works for piano and orchestra.

De Vriend first established an international reputation as Artistic Director of the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, which he founded in 1982 and led from the violin until 2015. Specialising in music of the 17th and 18th centuries and applying historically informed practice on modern instruments, the consort gave new life to many rarely heard works. Gramophone magazine praised its players for “technical finesse and a lively feeling for characterisation”. Its collaborative spirit lives on in de Vriend’s approach as he explores and energises the symphonic repertoire, in particular the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and Johann Strauss.

In the field of opera, in both Europe and the USA, de Vriend and Combattimento Consort Amsterdam gave performances of works by Monteverdi, Haydn, Handel, Telemann and J.S. Bach (the Hunting and Coffee Cantatas at the Leipzig Bach Festival), all in stagings by director Eva Buchmann. Operas by composers such as Mozart, Verdi and Cherubini featured in his seasons with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, which included a visit to Switzerland with productions of Don Giovanni and Rossini’s La Gazzetta, again directed by Eva Buchmann. De Vriend has also conducted operas in Amsterdam (Nederlandse Reisopera), Barcelona, Strasbourg, Lucerne, Schwetzingen and Bergen.

In the Netherlands, he has presented several television series and is well known for his appearances on various other programmes about music. In 2012, he received a prize from the national station NPO Radio 4 for his creative contribution to classical music.