After music studies at the Leuven and Berlin Universities, Jan Vandenhouwe started his career as a music critic for the Belgian newspaper De Standaard. From 2005 to 2008, he worked with Gerard Mortier at the Paris Opera as a dramaturge. During the same period, he was also head of the artistic programming at the Amphithéâtre Bastille. From 2009 to 2011, he was in charge of concert programming at the Bruges Concertgebouw. He then worked as a freelance musical dramaturge for the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris and the Klara Festival in Brussels and worked with stage directors Alain Platel (C(H)ŒURS in Madrid, Nicht Schlafen at the Ruhrtriennale), Ivo van Hove (Macbeth in Lyon, Brokeback Mountain in Madrid, Salomé in Amsterdam), Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Johan Simons (Fidelio in Paris, Boris Godunov in Madrid, Das Rheingold and Alceste at the Ruhrtriennale). After serving as dramaturgy director at the Ruhrtriennale, he has been artistic director of the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen since the 2019-2020 season.

At the Paris Opera: Così fan tutte, 2017; Boris Godunov, 2018; Don Giovanni, 2019; The Six Brandenburg Concertos, 2019; Don Giovanni, 2019