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BIOGRAPHY

With passion and an inquisitive mind, Bart's search for expressing his art has lead to a diverse musical undertaking.

Bart studied saxophone at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel with saxophonist and conductor Norbert Nozy. He had frequent lessons with today’s leading saxophonists Vincent David, Arno Bornkamp, Miha Rogina and Simon Diricq. He studies orchestral conducting at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles with maestro Robin Engelen and followed intensive masterclasses with maestros Mark Laycock and Jorma Panula. 

 

As a performing artist, he played concerti with wind ensembles and had the opportunity to play the Larsson and Glazounov concerti with orchestra. Together with pianist David Van Looveren he plays recitals throughout Belgium. 

 

  • At the 4th World Music International Soloist Competition in Kerkrade, Bart won the first prize.  

  • In the International Golden Saxophone Competition in Odessa, Ukraine, he won third prize.

 

From 2009-2019, together with Kristan Dehertog, Wesley Capiau & Kurt Bertels, Bart formed the Anemos Saxophone Quartet. Their highly accredited debut-album, Through Time, was released in 2013. They played on festivals in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Croatia and Serbia and are frequently broadcasted on the national classical music radio station Klara. In 2018 they released their 2nd album, Klapzoen, together with poet Geert Vanhassel, honoring the memory of the First World War. Together they won:

 

  • the Youth'n Classic Competition by Klara/Sonic Angel

  • the National Adolphe Sax Competition for ensembles in Dinant  

  • the European Chamber Music Competition in Luxemburg 

 

With Nele Tiebout, Pieter Pellens and Asagi Ito, Bart completes Brussels based saxophone quartet Scarbo. Together they create contemporary music programs combining music with other art forms. They performed the project Pagine with renowned Rosas dancer Yuika Hashimoto. In 2021 they recorded the album Fingerprints #4 with 6 creations of Flemish composers for the national radiostation Klara.

 

  • In 2018, they won the Supernova competition and toured Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia.  

 

Bart's passion for conducting started at a very early age. In the strong local wind band communities in Flanders, he was able to experiment and grow. He then started conducting the Saxophone Ensemble of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Bart conducted the string orchestra of the Belgrade Philharmonic, he conducted the creation the contemporary community youth Opera 'Leedberg' by composer Philip Lamouris and stage director Hildegard De Vuyst. With the OVSO he perfomed Mahler's 4th symphony. Bart is the chief conductor of the Kortrijks Symfonisch Orkest. He was selected for several conducting competitions and always reached the next round: 

 

  • Final 12 out of 176 applicants and 75 participants in the Nino Rota Competition 2018.

  • Final 7 out of 84 for the assistent conducting competition at the Philharmonie Royal de Liège.

  • Selected with 10 colleagues out of 100+ for the Nordic Masterclass 2021 with Jorma Panula and the South Danish Philharmonic Orchestra. 

 

As both a saxophone and ensemble teacher at the Municipal Academy of Hemiksem & Boom (Antwerp), Bart is involved in the creation of a cross-over approach to improvisation in the classroom with jazz saxophonist Joppe Bestevaar.

 

Bart arranges music for various ensembles and orchestras. Among many works for saxophones and wind bands, he made [die Zauberflöte Revisited] for the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, several works for the Belgian Navy Band and the Double Concerto by Piazzolla for the Military Band of Luxemburg. You can a find a selection of his arrangements here.

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