About Guus Ponsioen

After obtaining his diploma at the academy for performing arts, Guus Ponioen worked for several years as a composer, singer and supporting musician at The Dutch Cabaret. Working there he developed his interest in theatre music and more specific in the musical and dramatic translation of the written word. His main source of inspiration is the art of singing. Guus wrote the music for a lot of Dutch lyric writers, among them were: Wilmink, Jan Boerstoel, Ivo de Wijs, Ad de Bont, Suzanne van Lohuizen en Heleen Verburg. Through these compositions he started his career in Youth Theatre, were he worked, among other groups, as the head composer of the theatre group ‘Reciprocal’ (‘Wederzijds’ in Dutch). In the last twenty years working in youth theatre he developed himself, working in close cooperation with writer/director Ad de Bont. Together they have created a great number of productions, which are being played in many countries and of which some productions obtained theatre awards.

At the moment Guus is writing music and song lyrics for various youth theatre groups in the Netherlands. He is also productive in other countries, for example Germany, where he has been working with several youth theatre groups in the last couple of years, for example with the Freiburg Youth Theatre and his director Dieter Kümmel.

His theatrical version of Michel Tourniers “Pierrôt ou les secrets de la nuit’’ ( a co production with ‘Speeltheater Holland’) led Guus, after many countries within Europe, in 1997 to the United States where he played productions at several festivals. Shortly after ‘’Pierrôt’’ he prepared the production ‘’Stellaluna’’ for the Charlotte Martin Theatre in Seattle, again in cooperation with ‘Speeltheater Holland’. Meanwhile his production ‘’Perô, or the secrets of the night’’ plays in different countries and has been awarded more than once. In the year 2003 he joined the Association of Dutch Composers (‘GeNeCo’ in Dutch).

On occasion of the Gutenberg Centenary in 2000 Guus Ponsioen was commissioned by the Peter Cornelius Konservatorium in Mainz for the children’s musical “Das Geheimnis des schwarzen Giftes” (libretto by Christian Schidlowsky).