Johan van Der Linden (saxophone) graduated in 1983 from the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam. He went on to attend masterclasses with Iwan Roth, Daniel Defayet, Frederick Hemke, François Daneels and others. In 1982, he co-founded the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet with his colleagues André Arends, Arno Bornkamp and Willem van Merwijk. It has become one of the leading chamber music ensembles worldwide. After 31 fertile years, van der Linden departed from the quartet in 2013. From 1982 to 1990, Johan van der Linden served as a saxophonist for the Royal Military Chapel in The Hague.
In addition to his work as a teacher of saxophone at the Music Academy in Zwolle (ArtEZ) and Utrecht Conservatory (HKU), van der Linden works as a freelance saxophonist with Concertgebouworkest, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Van der Linden is also a core member of the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble. Apart from his active performance and teaching schedule and masterclasses all over the world, van der Linden dedicates time to developing new repertoire for publishers Molenaar Edition, Donemus, Tierolff, Edition MatchingArts and G.M.F.
He has formed a duo with the pianist Henry Kelder that focuses on new music written specifically for their duo at MatchingArts. He co-founded Splendor Amsterdam, a place where artists and the public inspire one another.
Johan van der Linden is an endorser of Selmer saxophones.