Hans Tijssen

Artistic leader chamber choir ProVoCanto

Hans Tijssen (born 1966), who originally studied electrical engineering, started playing the piano at the age of 18. After a year of private tuition he was admitted at the conservatory of music in Zwolle where he studied piano with Rudi de Heus, Nelleke Geesink and Ben Smits. He graduated in 1993 with good results. While studying piano, he immersed himself in singing, choral conducting and composition. Hans took up singing lessons with Clara de Vries and studied Gregorian chant and choral conducting with Jos Vermunt and Jos Leusink. In addition to his regular studies he took part in several master classes. Here he worked with Harry Christophers, Ton de Leeuw and Tera de Marez Oyens. Late 1996 he founded the Huygens Vocal Ensemble, especially to perform his own compositions.

In the autumn of 1997 Hans left for a period of two years to Brisbane (Australia), where he worked as a teacher, conductor and pianist. In Brisbane he founded the Brisbane Vocal Ensemble and Brisbane Madrigal Quintet. With these ensembles Hans organized several concerts in Queensland. He also worked as a guest conductor with Canticum, Queensland University Choir and the Bach Society of Queensland.

Back in The Netherlands he revived the Huygens Vocal Ensemble. Hans got more and more focused on performing contemporary classical music. As a result he became involved in a number of new initiatives. He was guest conductor and artistic adviser with the foundation VOCA in Deventer and he led several ensembles with which he explored new repertoire. After experimenting for five years with several amateur ensembles he feld a growing need to connect high-quality choral music and entertainment at a professional level.

Hans developed several innovative choral music programs such as a series of parking garage concerts in which the car played the lead role. Through these programs his role as a cultural entrepreneur increased. Today most of his choral music programs are continuous performances in which the various components are strongly intertwined. Hans is making provocative programs in which his qualities as a composer, conductor, instrumentalist and producer emerge.

His programs are highly acclaimed by the public and press. Hans and his ensembles performed several times on radio and TV. His work as a conductor is meanwhile widely recognized. His choir won the competition at the International TENSO days - festival of contemporary music - in Amsterdam, won the Deutsch- Niederländische Kirchenmusik Preis twice, were guests of honor at the Cantapueblo festival in Argentina and made it to the final rounds of the prestigious competition Florilege Vocal de Tours in France.

Recently he founded STAMPIJ (foundation for adventurous music projects) and ProVoCanto. After years of cultural work Hans sees an opportunity to enrich the cultural landscape with adventurous music productions at a professional level.