Xavier van de Poll was born in 1995 in Tilburg, the Netherlands, and started learning music at the age of five, when he started playing the violin. He discovered his love for orchestral music and stage works at the age of thirteen upon joining the Netherlands Youth Orchestra, where he played canonic as well as contemporary repertoire for seven years. From 2005 to 2011 he was a student at the youth department of the Fontys Conservatory in Tilburg. Afterwards he continued taking private lessons.

He started composing at the age of nineteen and received his first education in composition at the Conservatory of Amsterdam for two years where he was taught by Joël Bons. Simultaneously he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Musicology at the University of Amsterdam, where he graduated with his thesis “What’s the matter with atonality?: on the perception of atonal music from a neuropsychological viewpoint”. He finished his degree in Composition with a 9,5 from the Fontys Academy of Music & Performing Arts (AMPA) under the tutelage of Kees van den Bergh and Anthony Fiumara. He subsequently pursued a master’s degree in Composition at the Royal College of Music in London where he was taught by Kenneth Hesketh and graduated with distinction. He simultaneously enjoyed lessons in Conducting from Howard Williams. Xavier received financial support from the Royal College of Music (Kit and John Gander Award Holder) as well as various Netherlands-based institutes for obtaining his degree.

At present, Xavier is the first western PhD candidate in Composition in China, studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music under the supervision of Chen Musheng. His thesis focuses on the usage of Chinese elements in compositions written by Dutch composers. He was granted a full scholarship under the joint EU-China HPPD (High-Level People to People Dialogue) Program, allowing him to pursue his interest in eastern music and culture. He has received commissions from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, South Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Youth Orchestra and others. In 2022, his double concerto for violin, violoncello and string orchestra was released on cd by the Sinfonietta Cracovia, after Xavier had won the 2018 Sinfonietta per Sinfonietta competition. In 2023, he assisted Anthony Fiumara in orchestrating the ballet Echoes of Van Gogh, which was premiered by the West Australian Ballet Company and won First Prize with Special Mention at the International Bach Music Competition a year later. Performances in China include the Chinese premiere of Madhouse by the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra and the world premiere of Kuí (夔), composed for Chinese and Western instruments, which was first performed by Ensemble l’Itinéraire.

Xavier is also active as an arranger, having arranged music for Kamerata Zuid, Ellen ten Damme, pianists Iris Hond and NiuNiu and the 2025 edition of Night of the Proms. In the same year, he signed with Dutch publisher Deuss Music. Aside from writing his PhD thesis, Xavier has been working on his first opera, The Dutch Mandarin, a groundbreaking stage work based on the life of Robert van Gulik which fuses Peking Opera with western opera and intertwines Chinese and Dutch culture. The opera has received the support of the Chinese embassy in the Netherlands, the Dutch consulate general in Shanghai as well as major industry figures. He was both the first immigrant and student to obtain a grant from the Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation to develop his opera.