Klaas de Vries (born 1944) is considered a prominent Dutch contemporary composer. His works have been performed at home and abroad, by leading orchestras and ensembles like the ASKO and Schönberg Ensemble conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Residentie Orkest, Holland Symfonia and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra as well as by soloists like Harry Sparnaay, Walter van Hauwe, Ellen Corver en Janine Jansen.

His violin concerto was premièred last November by violinist Hebe Mensinga and Holland Symfonia conducted by Otto Tausk, in the Philharmonie of Haarlem.
Since 1975 Klaas de Vries teaches composition at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. He also performed as a guest lecturer at several conservatories and universities like The Hague, Amsterdam, Brussels (Ars Musica), Paris, Moscow, Boston (New England Conservatory en Harvard), Tanglewood and San Francisco.

He was awarded the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize twice, in 1982 and in 1998. The second time the prize was granted for A king, riding, a ‘scenic oratorio’, which was performed at the Holland Festival 1996 in co production with the renowned opera house ‘La Monnaie’ of Brussels.

At the moment Klaas is working on a composition to a text of Paul Celan, commissioned by the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, which will be premièred in the Berlin Philharmonie autumn 2006.

Most of his works have been released on CD and are regularly broadcasted on Dutch and foreign radio and television.