KAORI

Kaori van de Bilt is a Rotterdam-based composer, sound artist and conductor creating original music and immersive sound experiences for performance, film, theatre, dance and multidisciplinary artistic projects.

For more than twenty years she has worked across contemporary composition, live performance and collaborative creation, developing musical works that invite audiences into active listening and meaningful encounters with sound.

Her compositions have been created for chamber ensembles, choirs, theatre productions, dance performances, multimedia works and immersive experiences. Alongside her own artistic projects, she collaborates with directors, choreographers, filmmakers, visual artists and cultural organisations to develop original sonic identities for new productions.

As a conductor and musical director, Kaori currently leads three choirs in the Netherlands while continuing to compose for festivals, interdisciplinary performances and commissioned projects.

Her work has been presented in venues and festivals including TEDx, Opera Forward Festival and productions for musical theatre, contemporary ensembles and community-based artistic initiatives. In 2015 she received the International Hong Kong A Cappella Composition Award, recognising her work as a composer exploring connections between contemporary composition and diverse musical traditions.

Alongside her compositional practice, she develops immersive sound performances that combine acoustic instruments, voice, electronics and spatial listening. Rather than presenting music as something to observe, these performances invite audiences to experience sound as an active space for imagination, reflection and connection.

Whether composing for a theatre production, creating music for film, collaborating with dancers or designing an immersive listening experience, her work begins with the same question:

How can music transform the way we experience a space, a story or ourselves?