Merlijn Twaalfhoven (14/02/1976), a Dutch composer, born in Wapserveen (Drenthe). Twaalfhoven: "After preparation classes viola on the Royal Conservatory The Hague and a short study of art history at Leiden university, I entered the composition class in the Conservatory of Amsterdam, as a cover to be able to access a broad and versatile musical education. Besides the basic classical and modern subjects, I studied improvisation, live electronics and world music (especially South Indian, Japanese and west African). Additionally, I started to collaborate with artists of other disciplines such as dancers, theatre directors and visual artists. From the start, I paid a lot of attention to the use of space and its acoustics. This development finally lead into some huge events, for example in the Rijksmuseum (National Museum) in Amsterdam, the City Hall of The Hague, an enormous shipyard shed in the harbor, the Old Church and the Music Theatre of Amsterdam.
Often dancers, cooks and visual artists got involved in such location projects, and music of different styles was mixed with newly composed stuff. Strong interest in Japanese music and culture led to several intensive trips to Japan, where I gave workshops and concerts, and followed classes in traditional Japanese music. In 2003 I finished my studies on the Conservatory in Amsterdam with a research about Japanese aesthetics and a music theatre production.