Simeon ten Holt was born in Bergen on January 24, 1923.

He studied piano and theory with Jakob van Domselaer (1890-1960). In 1949 he moved to Paris where he received lessons at the École Normale with Arthur Honegger and Darius Milhaud.

From 1970 to 1987 he taught contemporary music at the Academy of Visual Arts in Arnhem. As a pianist he is active performing his own works.

Important works are: Bagatellen (1954), Cyclus aan de waanzin (1961), Interpolations (1969), Natalon in E (1979) for piano; Diagonaalmuziek for strings (1958), Tripticon for percussion ensemble (1965), ...A/.ta-lon for mezzo-soprano and large ensemble (1968), Music for the film Kockijn (1966); electronic music; Canto ostinato (1979), Lemniscaat (1983) and Horizon (1985) for keyboard instruments, Soloduiveldans I (1959), Soloduiveldans II (1986) and Soloduiveldans III (1990) for piano and Incantatie IV (1990) for 5 instruments.