Jan Willem de Vriend is the principal conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra and of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. He makes regular guest appearances with such ensembles as the Belgian National Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
From 2015 to 2019 de Vriend was principal conductor of the Residentie Orkest in Hague and from 2006 to 2017 of Phion, Orkest van Gelderland & Overijssel. He was also principal guest conductor of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra from 2015 to 2021. De Vriend and the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra went on to record a substantial Beethoven catalogue for Challenge Classics, with soloists including Hannes Minnaar and Liza Ferschtman. With Challenge Classics he also recorded the complete Mendelssohn and Schubert symphonies, with the Residentie Orkest.
De Vriend leaped to international fame as the artistic director of Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, which he established in 1982 and led as a violinist until 2015, specialising in 17th and 18th century music, playing modern instruments, albeit by applying historical criteria.
In both Europe and the USA, de Vriend and Combattimento Consort Amsterdam performed works by Monteverdi, Haydn, Handel, Telemann, and J.S. Bach. 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. De Vriend has also conducted operas in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Strasbourg, Luzern, Schwetzingen, and Bergen.
In the Netherlands he has presented several television series and is well-known for his appearances on a wide range of other programmes on music. In 2012 he received a prize from the national station NPO Radio 4 for his creative contributions to classical music.
