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 Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Holland Festival, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, 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 Sedlácek 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.