Dutch composer Douwe Eisenga (born 1961) studied composition with Julius Am… Read Full Bio ↴Dutch composer Douwe Eisenga (born 1961) studied composition with Julius Ament and Wim Diriwachter at the Groningen Conservatory in the Netherlands. He has written pieces for, among others, the Xenakis Ensemble, Super Librum. Python Soxophone Quartet and for pianist’s Gerard Bouwhuis, Jeoren van Veen and Marcel Worms.

Eisenga's chamber opera Kabaal (2001) received acclaim in the Dutch music press. Eisenga continued with Requiem 1953, a large-scale composition for choir and orchestra, performed in 2003 for the commemoration of the flood that struck The Netherlands in 1953. Later that year, the première of the Piano Concerto took place in Yokohama, Japan, performed by Gerard Bouwhuis and the Xenakis Ensemble. Spring 2004 saw the Dutch première of the complete piece at the Centre for New Music in Zeeland, Netherlands.

In 2006 the album Rose Road - City Lines was released to great reviews In 2008 Eisenga wrote music for Cloud Atlas, a project based on the novel from David Mitchell, performed by members of Nieuw Amsterdam Peil.

The dance performance Wiek premiered in 2009, followed by over thirty shows on Dutch festivals as Oerol, Festival over 't IJ, the Boulevard in Den Bosch and Zeeland Nazomer Festival. Wiek is a location-based production by Boukje Schweigman, for which Eisenga wrote the music. Two more premieres followed in 2009: Delta Dance for the Clazz Ensemble and Kick out the Muse for choir and orchestra. In the summer of 2009 Eisenga released the albums Music for Wiek and The Piano Files.

In 2010 Eisenga wrote Voordat ik zag for choir and orchestra, which was premiered by the USKO at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Like many composers of his generation, the music of Eisenga is rooted in pop music. He does not make any distinction between musical tearjerkers, twelve-tone techniques, baroque music or eastern-orientated cyclical structures. All these elements are used together in compositions that are both accessible and refreshing.

After a years of relatively little recorded output, Eisenga has been particularly prolific since 2019, releasing six albums in 2019 alone, including the acclaimed For Mattia (2019). It was followed by albums such as Open (2021), The Border (2022) and Poetry for a City (2023).