Gijs van der Heijden

Gijs van der Heijden is a Dutch composer based in Utrecht. Having begun his studies in music production at the Utrecht School of the Arts, he went on to focus on composition at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague in 2007, studying primarily with Martijn Padding and Gilius van Bergeijk. During this period he wrote works including Tees & Treeth (2010) for toy piano and string quartet, which received the Audience Award at the Young Masters XXI competition in The Hague (NL) in 2010, and for which he received a rehearsal masterclass tutored by violinist Monica Germino and contrabassist Wilmar de Visser. In 2012 he won First Prize at the Young Composers Meeting in Apeldoorn (NL) with ABC’s Trilobite Triacle (2012) for three sopranos and large wind ensemble. In 2013 he was nominated for the Gaudeamus Award with Our Primary Differences (2012) for electric guitar and amplified piano, and later that year took part in the International Young Composers Academy in Moscow, Perm and Chaykovsky city (RU), where the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble performed his Capriccio tagliato II (2013).

After 2013, van der Heijden stepped away from music for eight years, working outside the arts. In 2021 he returned to the Royal Conservatoire The Hague to resume his studies with Jan van de Putte and Mayke Nas, graduating with exceptional distinction in 2023. In the same year, van der Heijden was selected for the Composer’s Kitchen residency in Montréal (CA), where he worked closely with Quatuor Bozzini and wrote String Quartet No. 2 “Three Busy Monsters” (2023). His piece A Different Attitude About Togetherness (2023) for two harps, each tuned to a different concert pitch, was nominated for the Tera de Marez Oyens Award 2024. Van der Heijden’s latest works include Concerta Grotesque 54 mg (2024) for amplified ensemble, premiered by Ensemble Klang, and Kelp + Amethyst = Coprolite (2025) for eleven players, commissioned by Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie.

Supported by the ULYSSES Platform, Gijs was offered a co-commission by Gaudeamus and IEMA in 2025.