Thijs Jansen (2004, Groningen) is a contemporary Musician and composer, living and working in The Netherlands.
Jansen has recently concluded his jazz guitar study at the ArtEZ conservatory in Zwolle. During his time at the conservatory, he has conceived the formation of his Thijs Jansen Quartet, which made their international debut in 2024 as part of three consecutive tours across Europe, following the release of their album “Montane”, comprising entirely of original compositions and featuring saxofonist Art Baden(USA)
As a composer, he revolves his work around his observations and experiences with being in and watching nature, as can be observed in Montane(2025). Frustrated and concerned about the changing climate due to the exploitative way (western/capitalistic) humanity treats nature.
His musical influences come from a very diverse palette of artists, to name a few: Louis Sclavis, Pat Metheny, Ralph Towner, and Claudio Puntin. Malinese artists such as Habib Koite, Oumou Sangaré, and Bassekou Kouyate. And classical composers such as Maurice Ravel, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Claude Debussy formed Jansen’s musical footprint.
In addition to his quartet work Jansen is currently working on his first solo guitar album, in which he reflects on his experiences in his (very musical) youth. Regarding the way he played when not studying to become a ‘professional‘, this goes parallel with his thesis “Music Is a Language (2025)” in which Jansen forms his ideas about a different way of learning music. Building from the idea that “everyone can play music.”. For this album, Jansen is recreating his very first compositions (2012-2018) as a starting point, where in often nothing is recreated’, but just re-recorded.
On June 22 Jansen debuted his first interdisciplinary project TRANSCENDENCE (2026), where a connection between piano, voice, guitar + effects and synths meets contemporary improvised dance. TRANSCENDENCE was Jansen’s graduation concert inspired by the motto: ’to start choosing for myself instead of living for others‘. Being a reflective 45min performance where his time at the conservatory and the surrounding scene is shown through 2 distinctive ACTS.
July 2026
