Jan Willem de Vriend is Principal Conductor of the Wiener KammerOrchester, Principal Guest Conductor of the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, and artistic partner of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He makes regular guest appearances with such ensembles as the Belgian National, Hong Kong Philharmonic, HR-Sinfonieorchester, Melbourne Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony.
De Vriend first established an international reputation as Artistic Director of the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, which he established in 1982 and led from the violin until 2015. Specialising in music of the 17th and 18th century, and applying historically informed practice on modern instruments, the consort gave new life to many rarely heard works.
In the field of opera, in both Europe and the USA, de Vriend and Combattimento Consort Amsterdam gave performances of works by Monteverdi, Haydn, Handel, Telemann, and J.S. Bach (the Hunting and Coffee cantatas at the Leipzig Bach Festival), all in stagings by the director Eva Buchmann. Operas by such composers as Mozart, Verdi and Cherubini featured in his seasons with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, which included a visit to Switzerland with productions of Don Giovanni and Rossini’s La Gazzetta, again directed by Eva Buchmann. De Vriend has also conducted operas in Amsterdam (Nederlandse Reisopera), Barcelona, Strasbourg, Luzern, Schwetzingen and Bergen.
In the 2024/25 season he will add three new recordings to his substantial discography: Mozart Piano Concertos Nos 20 & 12 (Dejan Lazić/ Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra - Challenge Records), Schumann Symphonies Nos 3 & 4 (Stavanger Symphony Orchestra - Challenge Records) and Emilie Mayer Symphonies Nos 4 & 6 (NDR Radiophilharmonie - CPO).
