Daan Janssens (°1983) is a Belgian composer. He creates operas, ensemble and orchestral works, solo and chamber music and works with electronics. His compositions are characterized by dark, suspenseful timbres, a pronounced dramatic structure, large musical arcs and a virtuosic instrumental writing.
Recent works include the opera Brodeck, commissioned by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Titan for violoncello and electronics, commissioned by Concertgebouw Brugge and written for Arne Deforce, and Nebulae, for harpsichord and electronics, commissioned by Centre Henri Pousseur and written for Goska Isphording.
Upcoming projects include a new piece for ensemble Vibrations (2025), a new concerto for violin, orchestra and electronics (2025), and a new work for choir and large ensemble (2027).
Daan Janssens studied composition at the Ghent Conservatory with Frank Nuyts, Godfried-Willem Raes and Filip Rathé. He visited several international composition seminars and master classes, with Luca Francesconi, Peter Eötvös, Magnus Lindberg.
Daan Janssens collaborated with both Belgian and international ensembles and soloist, such as SPECTRA, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Brussels Philharmonic, Aton & Armide, Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon, I Solisti, Thomas E. Bauer… during festivals as the TRANSIT festival, Ars Musica, Festival Musica Strasbourg, De Singel, Concertgebouw Brugge, Operadagen Rotterdam, De Munt/La Monnaie…
Between 2008 & 2024, Janssens collaborated intensively with LOD, a Ghent based music theatre production house. In 2012, he presented his first opera, Les Aveugles, after Maurice Maeterlinck, in collaboration with Patrick Corillon. In April 2017, his second opera was premièred, Menuet, after a novel by Louis Paul Boon, in a stage direction of Fabrice Murgia. In February 2024, he presented his third opera at OperaBallet Vlaanderen, Brodeck, again in collaboration with Fabrice Murgia.
A cofounder of Nadar Ensemble, Janssens served as conductor of the ensemble from 2006 to 2015.
Since October 2016, Janssens teaches composition and orchestration at the Royal Conservatory Ghent.
