Bio
Amsterdam-based musician and composer Sietse van Erve first encountered electronic music in the early 1990s. After a few years experimenting with tracker software, he recorded his first serious pieces, built around beats and melodies, in 1998. He soon moved on, drawn to new sounds and ways of working.
His music keeps an organic quality, often making room for sounds others might dismiss as errors or mistakes. For van Erve, those imperfections are part of life, too. His search led him to drone and microtonal music, where time and space have become central to his recent work. He invites listeners to lose their sense of both.
In live performances, improvisation is part of the process. The result is often an organic blend of drone and minimal music
In 2026 van Erve decided to leave his old moniker Orphax behind, and to continue working under his given name.
He has released over 50 releases, as Download, CD-R, Tapes, CD’s and Vinyl, on various labels, as well as self-released online since he started working on music.
His compositions “En de stilstaande tijd voor (elektro-)akoestisch ensemble” has been performed by Anne La Berge, Dario Calderone, Gareth Davis and himself, as well as by Gareth Davis, Anne Gillot. Marie Schmidt and himself.
He has collaborations with Kenneth Kirschner, Machinefabriek, TVO and Martijn Comes. Furthermore, he contributed to many remix projects including work for Kenneth Kirschner, Sontag Shogun, Martijn Comes, TVO and Chris Dooks among others.
In the past, he has shared the stage with various musicians including Martijn Comes, Jos Smolders, Frans de Waard (Modelbau), Zeno van den Broek, TVO, BJ Nilsen, Philip Jeck, Yann Novak, Sarah Davachi and Scanner. Live he has worked together with Ensemble MAZE (as Gareth Davis, Anne LaBerge, Dario Calderone), TVO, Fani Konstantinidou, and Martijn Comes among others.
As Orphax, Sietse performed at various festival such as, Rewire Festival (The Hague, NL), Festival Musica (Strasbourg, FR), Le Guess Who (Utrecht, NL), Incubate (Tilburg, NL), Family Film Project (Porto, PT), IFFR (Rotterdam, NL), STRP Festival (Eindhoven, NL). And various venues, such as Iklectik (London, UK), The Cube Microplex (Bristol, UK), De Ruimte (Amsterdam, NL), Paradiso Basement (Amsterdam, NL), Splendor (Amsterdam, NL), KAW (Leverkussen, DE), OCCII (Amsterdam, NL), STEIM (Amsterdam, NL), Spektruk (Berlin, DE) among many others.
Besides making music, Sietse van Erve runs Moving Furniture Records and has curated concerts at home, at Amsterdam institute STEIM, De Ruimte, OCCII and more.
Read extensive interviews on “Fifteen Questions”:
15Questions – Enriched by Abstraction
15 Questions – Connections between Autism and Music
Contact / Bookings
You can get in contact with me through orphax@orphax.com
I am available for concerts, you can book me by sending an e-mail to orphax@orphax.com
Some of the pages where you can find information about Orphax:
Promotional photographs
You can download various photos for promotional use here Orphax promo pictures
Please always mention the photographer when using a picture (and preferably get in contact with them before doing so).
For questions or references, please always get in touch at the mail address above.
Picture above by Florian Cramer (can be used under CC, ask for bigger files if needed).
Live at Pink Pank, Rotterdam, February 19th, 2018.
Pictures by Jostijn Ligtvoet (please get in touch before using, bigger files are available).
Live at Optimus Prime Noise Fest #5, De Nieuwe Vorst Kraak Kelder, Tilburg, December 3rd, 2023
Pictures below by Niek Doup (can be used under CC, ask for bigger files if needed).
Live at de Lebuinuskerk, February 16th, 2019.
Picture below by Jonathan Crabb (can be used under CC, ask for bigger files if needed).
Live at Iklectick, London, March 23rd, 2019.