Jean Francois de Guise was born on May 15, 1970.

He received his first music lessons in 1976 in the subject recorder. From 1977 the trumpet became his main instrument. In the following years, he added the subjects of music theory, composition,

piano and organ, as well as conducting and singing. From 1991 to 1996 he studied in Paris, among other places. Among his teachers were Jean Langlais, Sergiu Celebidache and Rolf Reuter.

Jean François de Guise was particularly influenced compositionally by the American composer Elliott Carter. For many years he worked as a solo trumpeter and conductor with well-known orchestras before devoting himself almost exclusively to composition and teaching. The compositional oeuvre of Jean François de Guise includes instrumental works, choral works and orchestral concerts and is constantly expanding.

He is currently active as a freelance composer, organist and lecturer.

Jean François de Guise uses various techniques in his compositions.

He also used forms of serial technique, especially the "extended 12-tone technique".  In the broadest sense, his compositions can be described as free tonal music (New Complexity Music). With his music, he attempts to make sound, rhythm, and formal language transparent to the performer and ultimately to the listener. Jean François de Guise very often uses difficult, finely worked out structures and motif forms, whereby compositional connections only become clear in the interplay. For this reason, his works demand a great deal of precision and exact intonation from the players.

This is further enhanced by the fact that de Guise generally avoids duplication in notation, ensuring that even in orchestral works there is a chamber music-like sound. Many of his works are playable only by specialists in contemporary classical music.