Ruud Vermeij

Composer Ruud Vermeij was born in 1965 in The Netherlands. When he was 8 years old, he began to play cornet at the local Salvation Army Youth Band. He enjoyed studying music from a young age.

Since he was a teenager, her has been experimenting with writing music. He studied general music and harmony theory and spent time self-learning from reading books.

When he was young, he began studying for an electrical engineering qualification and became an engineer and then a software engineer. Later on in his life, he achieved a MSc in Maths at the Open University in 2014 after 3 years of studying. After studying further, he was awarded a diploma for conducting wind and brass bands.

In 1993, the Salvation Army published a 4-part song that he wrote. He became more serious about composing in 2005. He found a tutor named Nigel Horne, who gave him valuable advice about writing for brass band. He is influenced by other Salvation Army brass band composers, but also likes to listen to Olivier Messiaen. A notable piece he composed is Precious Stones which was published in 2007. He also arranged a piece for brass band by composer Schumann entitled Fremder Mann, which was published in 2021.

Since October 2015, he has been a lecturer in Mathematical Engineering at the Hague University of Applied Sciences. He is also the bandmaster of the local Salvation Army Band in Dordrecht.