Music Writing

Jan D'haene ( °1957) has been appointed director ad interim of the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel (KCB) since March 2021. He has been working at the conservatoire since 1980, first as a teacher of 'Written Harmony' and as of 1996 as a teacher of 'Musical Writing - Counterpoint & Fugue'.
In addition, he has been project leader of numerous European projects, such as the Harmos Project (European Multilingual Digital Data Collection for Multimedia Content in Music Heritage), the Variazioni project (Collaborative Authoring of Localized Cultural Heritage Contents), and the Euroclassical Project (European network to promote classical music and build bridges between talented young musicians).
He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of the Associazione Mozart Italia. 

A bio will follow shortly.

A short biography will be communicated soon.

WOUTER LENAERTS (°1981) is considered one of the most versatile musicians of his generation. As a composer, conductor and pianist, he distinguishes himself in numerous musical domains that extend each other from different angles and result in a far-reaching musical experience. In his artistic vision, he strives for an enriching cross-pollination between creating and creating music.

As a composer, Wouter is best known for his colourful, natural and expressive composition style. His works are meanwhile performed in all countries of Europe, the United States, Latin America and Japan by orchestras such as the National Orchestra of Lithuania (Vilnius), Kauno Miesto Sinfoninis Orkestras (Kaunas), Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra (Gdansk), National Philharmonic Orchestra (Lviv), Osaka Municipal Symphonic Wind Orchestra (Osaka), Rundfunk Blasorchester (Leipzig), the Koninklijke Muziekkapel van de Gidsen and Air Force (Brussels), the Royal Military Band Johan Willem Friso (Assen), as well as by well-known soloists such as Anneleen Lenaerts, Joana Daunyte, Marina Piccinini, Daniela Koch, Aldo Baerten, Karel Schoofs, Dionysis Grammenos, Norbert Nozy,...

Wouter is the inspirer and artistic director of symphoniaASSAI, a professional symphonic orchestra in Limburg with residence in Hasselt.
As a conductor, he has also worked with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bosnia-Herzegovina (Sarajevo), Norwegian Youth Chamber Music Festival (Stavanger), Kauno Miesto Sinfoninis Orkestras (Kaunas), the Koninklijke Muziekkapel van de Gidsen and Air Force (Brussels), Koninklijke Harmonie (Thorn), as well as with well-known soloists such as Anneleen Lenaerts, Stephan Koncz, Torleif Thedéen, Liza Ferschtman, Lars Anders Tomter, Raymond Curfs, Nandor Szederkenyi, Jonas Bylund, Francis Orval, Stéphane Labeyrie, Karel Schoofs, Roeland Hendrikx,...

Wouter studied at our Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel and obtained 5 Master degrees; for Piano (2004), Music Writing (2004), HaFaBra conducting (2006), Composition (2007) and Symphonic Conducting (2008), in the classes of Boyan Vodenitcharov, Rafael D'Haene, Ann Kuppens, Kristin De Smedt, Nobert Nozy, Silveer Van den Broeck and Ronald Zollman.

Since 2004, Wouter has taught Writing and score reading for conductors at our conservatoire.
Between 2020 and 2022, he also worked as a teacher of conducting and scripture at the Musica Mundi School in Waterloo.

A bio will follow shortly.

Sofie Vanherle studied at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel and the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles. She obtained First Prize Diplomas for piano, chamber music, music history, written and applied harmony, a Diplôme Supérieur for harpsichord and Master’s degrees in Harpsichord, Counterpoint and Fugue.

Since 2005 Sofie Vanherle has been a member of the faculty at Koninklijk Conservatorium BrusseL, first as a harpsichord accompanist and later as a harmony teacher and a researcher. In addition, she teaches at the music academies of Tielt and Wemmel.

As a freelance performer on various types of keyboard instruments, she explores a repertoire that ranges from Ars Antiqua and Ars Nova to Gerschwin and Piazzolla.

Born in a house full of guitars, Maarten Vandenbemden (1994) received his first guitar lessons from his father. Thirteen years later, his path led to Antigoni Goni's class at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel where he obtained "summa cum laude" the masters in guitar and music writing.

As a soloist and with several orchestras, he played at Bozar (Brussels) and the Royal Palace of Caserta, among others, and from Jordan to China.
From a special fondness for chamber music, he regularly plays with sopranos Noémie Schellens and Kelly Poukens, with cellist Ann Van Hecke and in the colourful line-up of two tenors and two guitars as "Los Reyes de la Baraja".

Since 2018, Maarten has been the fourth member of the Four Aces guitar quartet, with which he will record a second album entirely dedicated to Belgian music in 2022 after the earlier Tabula Rasa.
With pianist Saskia Van Herzeele, he forms duo Adentro, a 2018 Supernova finalist and winner of the Chamber Music Prize at the Twenthe Guitar Festival (NL). Their first CD "Once upon a time" was released by Etcetera in December and was voted one of the 10 favourite albums of the year by US Classical Guitar Magazine in 2019. Courtesy of Beeldenstorm vzw, their second album will be released in late 2021. "Paris. Les années folles" is entirely dedicated to the music of the earlier 1920s.

Maarten teaches Applied Harmony and Harmony & Analysis and is the Coordinator Music for the Educatieve Master in de Kunsten at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, and teaches classical guitar at the Conservatory of Ghent. Since 2016, Maarten has also been actively involved in the Volterra Project , an innovative summer guitar course, and in Music Projects for Brussels, an organisation that introduces Brussels children, patients and inmates to classical music.