Johan de Meij (Voorburg, 1953) studied trombone and conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music at The Hague. He has earned international fame as a composer and arranger. His catalogue consists of original compositions, symphonic transcriptions and arrangements of film scores and musicals. The Symphony no. 1 The Lord of the Rings, based on Tolkien's best-seller novels of the same name, was his first substantial composition for symphonic band and received the prestigious Sudler Composition Award in 1989.