Jan Vriend

Who is Jan Vriend?

Jan Vriend is a Dutch classical music composer, conductor, organist and pianist.

Vriend studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1960 to 1967, with Else Krijgsoman, Anthon van der Horst and Jan Felderhof, and Ton de Leeuw. During this period he also studied electronic music with Gottfried Michael Koenig at the University of Utrecht.

He won the Conservatoire of Amsterdam Prize for Composition, the Schnittger Organ Prize for his composition Herfst and the Gaudeamus International Composers Award with Huantan in 1970.

As a conductor, Vriend has directed several choirs and instrumental ensembles which perform both early and contemporary music. Perhaps the best-known of these is the ASKO Ensemble, which he founded In 1965.