About Miranda Driessen
In her childhood Miranda Driessen dreamed of becoming an explorer until one day a teacher told her she had to consider another career since every corner of the earth already had been discovered. After the initial shock of this message, she decided this wouldn't stop her. For her there was still a whole universe to discover.
Her works show a major interest in an experimental and diverse musical approach. She began her composing career relatively late: only at the age of 35 did she start studying at the Rotterdam Conservatory, having previously worked as a music educator and singer. Her curiosity and drive to explore unknown territories characterize her work in which she combined Western and non-Western instruments, alternative tuning systems, historical instruments, sound sculptures, and installations in her compositions.
Driessen’s work has been performed by prominent ensembles such as the Asko Ensemble, Doelen Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Orkest De Ereprijs, Scordatura Ensemble, and Kokoro Ensemble throughout The Netherlands and several other European countries. She has worked with various soloists, including pianists Katerina Konstantourou (Greece) and Susanne Kessel (Germany), baroque flutist Maja Miro-Wisniewska (Poland), and excellent Japanese musicians such as Naomi Sato (sho), Makiko Goto (koto) and Kaoru Iwamura (fortepiano).
She has won several awards, including at the Geelvinck Square Piano Competition in 2011 and 2012 and received the predicate ‘highly commended’ for her composition “Marginalia” in a competition organized by Bristol University as part of their research project on Mozarabic neumes from medieval Spain.
In 2018, she released the music theater work "Koerikoeloem," based on the eponymous epic poem by Tjitske Jansen. This full-hour for Japanese sho, recorder trio and 8 vocalists was performed at several major festivals in The Netherlands. The staging was set within an installation of 8 aeolian harps built by the late German sound artist Jan Heinke and Steffen Hartmann surrounding both performers and audience.
The connection with Jan Heinke since then lead to several more collaborations in which she delved into the universe over overtone music. (Heinke was also an extraordinary virtuoso in polyphonic overtone singing) In 2023 she created Sanctuary of sound: a 72-hour-performance with the installation of aeolian harps at the Oranjewoud festival, followed a year later by another 6-hour-piece for installation and voice: When the tide turns, that she performed herself.
Besides her work as a composer, Driessen works as a workshop leader, vocalist, choir conductor and independent researcher of medieval manuscripts. She lives and works in Almere, The Netherlands and is a member of Nieuw Geneco, the professional association for new music composers. In recent years her work has been supported by the Performing Arts Fund.