Johannes Leertouwer, PhD

Johannes Leertouwer

Johannes Leertouwer is a conductor, violinist, and scholar whose work is rooted in historical performance practice. He built his early career as concertmaster and soloist with leading period instrument ensembles, which naturally led him toward conducting. He has taught at the Conservatory of Amsterdam for almost four decades, initially as professor of violin, subsequently as chief conductor of its orchestra class, and most recently as a specialist in the performance practice of 19th-century romantic music.

He has guest conducted orchestras and ensembles throughout Europe and beyond, and in 2009 became Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht. From 2021 to 2024 he held a professorship in Historically Informed Performance Practice at Seoul National University. His 2023 doctorate from Leiden University, awarded for research into the historical performance of Brahms’s orchestral music, brings rare scholarly depth to his interpretations of the Austro-German symphonic repertoire.

As first violinist of the Narratio Quartet, he completed the recording of the full cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets — a world premiere on period instruments — released in 2025 to widespread critical acclaim. In the same year he initiated a Beethoven Academy with the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht, to rehearse, perform, and record all Beethoven symphonies based on the latest findings of historical research.

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