Martijn Padding (Amsterdam, 1956) studied composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, piano with Fania Chapiro and musicology at the University of Utrecht. His oeuvre ranges from solo instrumental works to large-scale orchestral compositions and music theatre.

His more recent works are less prone to the angular construction and pithy harmonic structure of his earlier pieces, and although Padding’s music often still exhibits a technical- musical aspect, a theatrical element is increasingly evident.

Padding’s compositional aesthetic precludes any hierarchical relationship amongst, for instance, modernistic elements, inuences from popular culture and historical-based doctrines. His compositions, accordingly, treat a broad spectrum of subjects and personages including Thelonious Monk, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg.