Rozalie Hirs (b. April 7, 1965, Gouda, Netherlands) is a Dutch composer, poet, and scholar, known for her distinctive approach to music, words, and sound. Her poetry is characterized by a fluid and innovative style, playing with sound across multiple layers of meaning and possibilities for interpretation. In her music, Hirs develops her own harmonic language, inspired by the acoustic and psychoacoustic properties of sound and harmony. Her music compositions span a wide range of genres, from vocal and orchestral music to electronic works, often blending traditional instruments with innovative sound techniques. As a poet, Hirs is the author of ten poetry books, written in Dutch, her native language. Six collections have been translated into other languages, with gestammelte werke (Berlin: kookbooks, 2017), a multilingual volume, being the most notable. Her music compositions have been commissioned and performed by notable ensembles and orchestras, including the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, ASKO|Schönberg, Ensemble Klang, Musikfabrik, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Klangforum Wien, at prestigious festivals such as the Holland Festival, Présences (Radio France), and the Donaueschingen Festival.
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“Vragen naar het begin by Rozalie Hirs is my favorite poetry collection of the year. It demonstrates that poetry can engage with even the most abstract subjects — reality, language, and the relationship between the two — in a way that is genuinely beautiful. Here, the beauty of art is combined with that of mathematics, much as Wittgenstein brought the two together in philosophy.” — Marc van Oostendorp, Neerlandistiek, 5 July 2026
“Rozalie Hirs is a poet who brings everything she has to her work: her intellect, her feel for language, her sense of rhythm, her fascination with clarity of thought, her concern for and love of this world. She has already written a remarkable number of beautiful collections, but with vragen naar het begin, she has, in my view, surpassed herself.” — Marc van Oostendorp, Neerlandistiek, 5 July 2026
“There are few poets who, with such wholehearted commitment, give expression to ‘the space of the whole of life,’ to borrow Lucebert’s words, as Rozalie Hirs does. Whereas Lucebert ‘strives’ to do this ‘in a poetic way,’ Hirs simply does it. In one sense, she does so much like Lucebert, through ‘waters illuminated in simplicity’: her poetry flows, radiating a lightness and clarity like sunlight sparkling on water. At the same time, she is like a driven scientist who is unafraid of complexity, continually examining her subject from every possible angle, even as that subject itself is constantly changing shape.” — Dietske Geerlings, Tzum, 7 August 2026
“To ask about the beginning is at the same time to ask about meaning: where do we come from, and why are we here?” — Dietske Geerlings, Tzum, 7 August 2026
“The finely crafted music of composer and poet Rozalie Hirs is color, light, space, wind, movement, and something elusive. This wonderful portrait album features five solo pieces (for cello, voice, bass clarinet, electric guitar, and flute) as well as the trio Infinity Stairs, performed by outstanding musicians. Expansive, sophisticated, and contemplative chamber music that reveals great imagination.” – ★★★★☆ Joep Stapel, Klassiek, NRC, 2025
“Rozalie Hirs is unlike anyone else in the Dutch music landscape — her language is at once mathematical, colorful, and spiritual. [..] As Hirs philosophizes and explores, she creates sound worlds that sometimes feel familiar, sometimes uncannily strange.” — ★★★★☆ Dennis Bajram, Klassiek, Volkskrant, 2025
“Once more, in this collection Hirs proves that she can create a play of poetic language like nobody else. […] Hirs’s ingenious tour de force stands right in the twenty-first century.” – Helena Van Praet, De Reactor
“Departing from this moment of receptivity, Hirs embarks on a surprising and overwhelming exploration of language, time, space, humanity, nature, perception, memory.” – Anne ter Beek, Awater
“The best-kept secret of Dutch poetry. Rozalie Hirs writes poems like no one else does. Lyrical, musical, intuitive and very precise.” – Joost Baars, De Dolfijn
“That way the words of Hirs, who is also active as a composer, are like music: the chords flow into one another rhythmically, quite oblivious of the boundaries of a sentence.” – Jeroen Dera, De Standaard
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“You hear showers of stars, magic scenes in fairytale forests.” – Bas van Putten, De Groene
“Her spectral thinking, her deft use of electronics, and her seamless fusion with traditional instruments lift her work high above the usual avant-garde terrain. Hirs does not follow existing norms—she sets them. The result is an engrossing and often exhilarating listening experience.” – Aart van der Wal, Opus Klassiek, 2025
“Roseherte (2008) for orchestra and electronics is a magnificent work.” – Bas van Putten, De Groene
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Hirs’ work is informed by the exploration of the intersection of art and science. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Columbia University, where she studied as a Fulbright Fellow, and a Master of Music from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Before pursuing her music career, she earned a Master of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Twente. These diverse academic paths have shaped her approach to poetry and composition, where she draws upon principles of acoustics, neurolinguistics, psychoacoustics, and mathematics to develop her unique sound language. Hirs also frequently collaborates with visual artists and designers to create digital poetry for the screen, as well as interactive apps and museum installations.
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