Maarten van Veen comes from a musical family. His father was a conductor and his mother was a pianist. At an early age he learned the power of music as important part of life and in society. His debut as conductor was with the opera-tour of Rob Zuidam (2002) and later Robin de Raaff, and Van Veen conducts regular in contemporary classical music..He received conducting classes with Philip Herreweghe and Frans Brüggen on authentic music performance with a scholarship from FPK.  At the conservatorium in Utrecht he studied with Kenneth Montgomery and with Arie Van Beek.  

His repertoire list is extensive. Over the past 10 years he studied and conducted numerous new and existing pieces. "When I open a score, existing or new music,  I pretty fast see and hear what I would like to focus on, get the musical language and gesture maximised within the given rehearsal time. That proces is a joy to discover with the musicians first and of course in concert with the audience. "

Lately he won a prize at the International Petrichor Competition in conducting Joey Roukens music with the DoelenEnsemble in Rotterdam.

He also conducted projects with the Hortus Chamber Orchestra as well as several projects in the US.

Beside the knowledge of the repertoire, Van Veen discovered music in theatrical way to benefit from the place and context where it is to be performed.  He studied "Curational practice" ( ARTEZ) and formulated his own way of creating programs. This resulted in over 350 programs he created since 2012 with many collaborations. Lately he toured with Scapino Ballet, and created in close collaboration with Opera2day, a musical story for the dance performance with opera singer.

Music in a concerthall works totally different from music performed at site, connecting to the music or context. This result in many immersive projects and ideas with connections to society. Where is music functional and why within the power of the music itself?

See for the agenda where and when van Veen is conducting soon on stage.