Joep Franssens

Joep Franssens studied piano in Groningen and composition in the Hague and Rotterdam with composer Louis Andriessen and Klaas de Vries respectively.

Franssens is a representative of the post-serial generation of Dutch composers who use tonal means and an accessible idiom without neo-Romantic features, even if the pathos-laden, highly emotional nature of his music appears to contradict this endeavour.

[2] NTR (Dutch public Television) made the documentary 'The Third Ear' on this international movement, with composers such as Arvo Pärt and Giya Kancheli.

[3] In his music Franssens aims to express the Universal; his sources of inspiration are to be found amongst writers and philosophers like Fernando Pessoa and Baruch de Spinoza.

[6] On the occasion of the 60th birthday of Arvo Pärt in November 2015, the first performance of his Piano Concerto[7] took place with soloist Ralph Van Raat accompanied by the Noord Nederlands Orkest conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste.