Born in Utrecht (the Netherlands) in 1939, Louis Andriessen began composing with his father, the composer Hendrik Andriessen. He went on to study with Kees van Baren at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, where he graduated with highest honors in composition, and then pursued his studies with Luciano Berio in Milan and Berlin. Upon his return to the Netherlands, he rapidly made a name for himself as a major figure in the national music scene, both for his compositions and for his performances of his own work and that of other composers. Known for his political activism, he teaches at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague and in the course of his career has been a driving force in a movement of profound renewal in Dutch music.

Andriessen experimented with serialism early in his career, but then shifted away from the avant-garde composition of the 1950s as he embraced jazz. One hears the influence of Charlie Parker in Facing Death (1990), and the work of Stravinsky - another strong influence for him - along with the rhythmic work of American minimalists. These threads combine in Andriessen’s consonant or polytonal harmony. Andriessen’s post-modernism also encompasses opera, and he has written two operatic works with the film director Peter Greenaway, Rosa, a Horse Drama and Writing to Vermeer (1999).

Among his early notable compositions are Series for two pianos (1958), Nocturnen for soprano and chamber orchestra (1959), Introspezione for orchestra (1963), Registers for piano (1963), Anachronie I - a work for orchestra dedicated to Charles Ives (1967), and Spektakel for ensemble with jazz musicians (1970). He also co-authored the opera Reconstructie (1969).

He became interested in social issues in the 1970s, and wrote many politically engaged works, including Volkslied (1971), based on the Dutch national anthem and the Internationale, and Workers Union (1975).

In 1972, he composed De Volharding (Perseverance), then launched a wind ensemble with the same name, for which he wrote numerous pieces. Similarly, in 1977, his Hoketus inspired an ensemble of the same name, in which Andriessen played piano. From 1973-1976, he wrote De Staat (Republic), a large-scale piece that won the Matthijs Vermeulen Award in 1977, as well as first prize in the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers.

Andriessen composed many pieces for large ensemble, often divided into three groups, as in De Snelheid (1982-1983), or in the four movements of the opera De Materie, directed by Robert Wilson (1984-1988), and again for his more recent De Opening (2005), performed by the Asko, Schönberg, and De Volharding ensembles.

He also composed a significant body of vocal work, sometimes inspired by significant encounters, such as with the singer Cristina Zavalloni or the poetry of Dino Campana (1885-1932) — Passeggiata in tram in America e ritorno (1998), La Passione (2002). Among other pieces, Inanna and Racconto dall’ inferno (2004) were composed for Zavalloni, as were the roles of Dante in La Commedia, a film opera written in collaboration with Hal Hartley (2003) and the role of Anaïs in Anaïs Nin (2010). He also collaborated with Hartley on The New Math(s) (2000) [work:931143f8-4e34-455e-8bf5-3278e02d3336]. [La Commedia] was premiered by the Netherlands Opera at the Holland Festival in 2008, and Andriessen received the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for it in 2011.

His more recent work includes Life, written for the Bang on a Can All-Stars with film by Marijke van Warmerdam (2009); La Girò, composed for violinist Monica Germino (2012); Rosa’s Horses, which premiered in May 2013, arranged by Clark Rundell based on the Opera Rosa; Mysteriën for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (2013) and Tapdance Concerto for the percussionist Colin Currie (2013-2014).