My name is Fred Vogels (my surname is Dutch for 'Birds'). I was born the 4th of April 1954, in Wassenaar (a village near The Hague). Many years later I got married and became father of four children.

I worked my way through High School, to be able to do what I really wanted: experiencing MUSIC! I studied music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. This mainly concerned drums & percussion in classical as well as contemporary music. In additional training programs I learned to get along with computers and software; and I also developed my skills in Communication and as a (financial) Manager.

At the moment I'm using my musical and working experiences in writing music. As a composer I feel free to express my deepest feelings and emotions in all kinds of music. The compositions that deal with 'Normandy' and 'D-day' are the most obvious results of this. My true admiration for our liberators in World War II, inspired me to write these compositions. By telling the story in this musical way, I hope people will realise the meaning of what happened in those days. If there's any language that can make it clear to us, it's the language of the soul: MUSIC!

From 1995 until October 2004 I've been Head of the School of Arts in Dronten and later o­n in Boxmeer. The years before that I was a musical teacher at several Schools of Music. In the early nineties I was managing director of 'The Dutch Baroque Orchestra' and approximately ten years before that of the Dutch drum & percussion group 'Slagwerkgroep Den Haag'. This involved a lot of organizing and touring through many countries together with well known musicians as Theo Olof and Reinbert de Leeuw. From the moment I finished my musical study in The Hague I've been playing in a lot of orchestras, such as the 'Residentie Orkest', 'Concertgebouw Orkest' and the 'Schönberg Ensemble'. o­n some occasions I appeared as a soloist o­n marimba or with overtonesinger Danny Becher o­n our CD Natural. These concerts took place throughout Europe, so again the music brought me to places I'd never been before.

At the moment I write music for movies and television. You can find more information about that bij clicking here

If music is the means by which you are making a living, it's not easy to find something you enjoy more in your spare time. That's why most of my hobby's are associated with my work: writing music o­n the computer with MIDI; discussing music and 'Normandy / D-day' o­n the internet with friends; building and maintenance of a website; developing my own software; and of course: my annual trip to Normandy for the remembrance of the victims of the war.