Merlijn Twaalfhoven  Merlijn Twaalfhoven (born February 14, 1976, Wapserveen) is a Dutch composer. He graduated from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2003. Twaalfhoven is internationally active in creating innovative projects and writing new music for orchestras, choirs and chamber music groups. He collaborated with , Holland Festival, , the Dutch National Ballet and Springdance festival, among many others. With his non profit organization La Vie Sur Terre he frequently produces large scale projects on location with local artists and musicians, for example in Cyprus, Japan, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Syria, and Central Europe. Twaalfhoven is a member of the Alpbach Laxenburg Group. He was a speaker about the role of arts in conflict areas at Aspen Institute Washington and Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, CO. In 2014 and 2015, Merlijn Twaalfhoven created "Bridging The Divide", a conversation with Tomáš Sedláček and Gloria Benedikt, linking economics and the irrational, positioning artists as agents of change. He was co-founder of Citizen Artist Incubator together with Gloria Benedikt, which was funded by Creative Europe and brought together 30 artists in two editions. The 2016 of Citizen Artist Incubator took place at IIASA. Twaalfhoven was a speaker about the role of arts in conflict areas at Aspen Institute Washington, TEDx Amsterdam, the European Forum on Culture 2013, 2016  and Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado, U.S.A. In 2017 he founded the Turn Club. For Twaalfhoven, musical expression revolves around communication: 'A work of art doesn't mean anything if the audience is not touched by it' He tends to take music out of its traditional surroundings, to mix it with other expressions of Western or non-Western culture. He also tends to get the musicians out of their usual behaviour patterns and so stimulate interactions with the audience. His projects often take place at alternative concert locations such as a shipyard in the Amsterdam harbor, an old warehouse, or a nature spot. Politics are part of a majority of his work. This can be seen by the areas of social tension he brings his works to (for example Cyprus or the Palestinian Territories). He often speaks and writes about his outspoken vision on art and its function in society. A few illustrations are: his speech during TEDx Amsterdam conference in 2009, his professorship at ArtEZ School of Arts (see Research), as well as his published articles and book (see Publications).