Björn Pinxter (b. 2001) is a Dutch composer currently pursuing his second Bachelor of Composition at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. He studies with Willem Jeths (former Composer of the Netherlands) and Meriç Artaç, with a focus on developing a strong, idiomatic writing style for instrumental music. His music is rooted in the Western musical tradition and uses classical settings such as orchestra, chamber music and solo works. These are combined with inspirations from other art forms, including painting, literature and dance, as well as from various philosophical movements, Eastern concepts and personal experiences in the present. For Pinxter, the visual and imaginative aspect of music plays an important role: sound is used as a carrier of meaning and as a means of conveying a direct message to the audience. During his studies, he focuses heavily on instrumentation and timbre. Through the use of extensive playing techniques, he explores new forms of expression in which color, gesture, texture and form are central. His music has a distinctly expressive character and aims to deepen listening awareness. Pinxter strives to write music that unfolds naturally and speaks from the present:
“I want to make music that carries a direct message of our times, opening up new worlds in which we also learn to listen better to each other in an increasingly uncertain world.”
Pinxter is the only student composer at the Conservatory of Amsterdam to be nominated twice for the Alba Rosa Viëtor Festival (February 2024 in his preliminary year and November 2025). In 2025 it was in collaboration with the Calefax Composers Competition, for which he wrote a rhapsody for reed quintet: “Una Rapsodia ardiente”: A Fiery Rhapsody. That same year he composed and arranged Frank Bridges song Come to Me in My Dreams (from the English repertoire) as part of the Dutch Chamber Orchestra's Song Project 2025, in collaboration with baritone Leander Carlier (ARIA winner 2024). The performance was extremely well received, with comments such as, “It felt so personal how you composed this piece; you really molded the voice into the orchestra making it come across with an immediate truth.” His choral work Nirvana, written as SSAATTBB for chamber choir VOKALISK and conducted by Dody Soetanto, premiered in November 2025. In March 2026, Pinxter will again participate in the Song Project, this time around a Spanish theme, for which he will write both an arrangement and a new work of his own.