Willem Jeths was born in Amersfoort, the Netherlands in 1959. As a child he received piano and music theory lessons, and from 1980-1982 he studied music education at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam.

In 1982 Jeths made composition his primary course of study, initially under the tutelage of Hans Kox and, two years later, under Tristan Keuris, Kox’s successor as professor of composition at the Utrecht Conservatory. Upon graduating in 1988 the jury unanimously awarded him the Prize for composition. Additionally Jeths studied musicology at the University of Amsterdam between 1983 and 1991. He completed his studies there with a doctoral dissertation on the composer Elisabeth Kuyper (1877-1953) which was included in the book “Zes vrouwelijke componisten” (Six women composers) published by the Walburg Press, Zutphen 1991.