Jan Willem de Vriend is currently chief conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Stuttgart Philharmonic, designated principal guest conductor of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra and artistic partner of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He regularly appears as a guest conductor with orchestras such as the Belgian National Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, HR Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orchester National de Lyon, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Warsaw Philharmonic and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony.

From 2015 to 2019 Jan Willem de Vriend was permanent conductor of the Residentie Orkest Den Haag and from 2006 to 2017 chief conductor of Phion, Orkest van Gelderland & Overijssel. He was also principal guest conductor of the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya from 2015 to 2021 and principal guest conductor of the Brabant Orchestra (now South Netherlands Philharmonic) from 2008 to 2015. De Vriend recorded numerous works by Beethoven with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, including numerous symphonies and concertos (with soloists such as Hannes Minnaar and Liza Ferschtman). Classic FM praised the 7th Symphony for its “lively atmosphere that does full justice to the composer’s joyful side”. Another highlight of the recordings for Challenge Records was the complete recording of the Mendelssohn symphonies with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and the Schubert symphonies with the Residentie Orkest.

De Vriend first appeared internationally as artistic director of the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, which he founded in 1982 and led as concertmaster until 2015. The ensemble, which specializes in repertoire from the 17th and 18th centuries, rediscovered numerous rarely heard works and plays on modern instruments in historically informed performance practice. Gramophone Magazine praised the musicians as “versed, with technical finesse and a lively sense of design”. The ensemble’s communal spirit lives on in de Vriend’s exploration of the symphonic repertoire, particularly of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Schumann, Brahms and Johann Strauss.

In the opera sector, de Vriend, together with the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, has performed works by Monteverdi, Haydn, Handel, Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach (scenic versions of the Jagd- und Kaffeekantate at the Leipzig Bach Festival) in Europe and the USA, all under the direction of Eva Buchmann. Operas by composers such as Mozart, Verdi and Cherubini were part of his seasons with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, including a guest appearance in Switzerland with Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Rossini’s La Gazzetta, again directed by Eva Buchmann. De Vriend has also directed opera productions in Amsterdam (Nederlandse Reisopera), Barcelona, ​​Strasbourg, Lucerne, Schwetzingen and Bergen.

In the Netherlands, Jan Willem de Vriend is known to a wide audience through his appearances in TV and radio series and music formats. In 2012 he was awarded a prize for special creative contributions to classical music by the Dutch radio station NPO Radio 4.

2023/2024
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