After studying musicology at the universities of Leuven and Berlin, Jan Vandenhouwe (1979) starts working for the newspaper De Standaard as a music and opera critic.
From 2005 till 2008, he works with Gerard Mortier at the Opéra de Paris as a music dramaturge. He is also responsible for the artistic program of l’Amphithéâtre Bastille. In Paris he assists directors such as Krzystof Warlikowski (Parsifal) and Johan Simons (Fidelio) and programs a series of recitals with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Opéra Garnier.
From 2009 till 2011, he is responsable for the concert programming at the Concertgebouw in Bruges. Nowadays he is a freelance music dramaturge working for Teatro real (Madrid), Ensemble InterContemporain (Paris) and Klara Festival (Brussels), among others.
He worked with directors such as Alain Platel (C(H)ŒURS/Madrid), Ivo Van Hove (Macbeth/Lyon and Brokeback Mountain/Madrid) and Johan Simons (Boris Godunov/Madrid).
As a dramaturge he prepares the artistic programm of the Ruhrtriennale 2015-2017 together with the future artistic director Johan Simons.