UE composers from Belgium

Belgian harpist Anneleen Lenaerts is one of the leading soloists of her instrument.

In December 2010 she was appointed Principal Harpist of the Vienna Philharmonic. As a soloist Anneleen has performed with the Symphony Orchestra of Bavarian Radio, the Mozarteum Orchestra, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, and the National Orchestra of Belgium amongst others.

Anneleen Lenaerts has made her solo debut at venues such as the Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall New York, Berliner Philharmonie, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wiener Konzerthaus, Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg, Bozar in Brussels and in festivals such as Rheingau Musik Festival, Dresden Musikfestspiele, Lockenhaus festival, Moritzburg Festival and Aspen Music Festival. Solo appearances have been recorded by various stations including BBC 3, Radio France Musique and Deutschlandfunk.

After the success of recording 3 harp concertos (by Glière, Rodrigo and Jongen) with the Brussels Philharmonic for Warner Classics and a CD with works by Schumann & Schubert with clarinetist Dionysis Grammenos, Anneleen signed an exclusive recording artist contract with Warner Classics. 2019 saw the release of a new recording with works by Nino Rota with the Brussels Philharmonic, Adrien Perruchon and Emmanuel Pahud and won an Opus Klassik, after being nominated in 4 different categories. Her previous solo album on Aliud Records comprises twelve transcriptions of some of the most popular piano pieces by Chopin and Liszt. In the same year she also received the “Flemish Community Honours” by the Government of Flanders for her outstanding contributions to society.

From an early age Anneleen started winning an impressive amount of prizes at international harp competitions: 23 prizes between 1997 and 2009. The “Grand Prix International Lily Laskine, where she won the first prize in 2005 and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, where she was both a prizewinner and winner of the Audience Prize, are particularly outstanding.

She teaches at the University of Maastricht (NL) and Musical Arts Madrid (ES) and is a Faculty Member of the Aspen Music Festival (USA)

She has given masterclasses worldwide at institutes like the Julliard School New York, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Carnegie Hall New York, Mozarteum Salzburg etc.

Besides harp Anneleen studied harmony, counterpoint and fugue at the Brussels Conservatory.

www.anneleenlenaerts.com

Evans Koçja is a composer of contemporary classical music based in Brussels. His musical journey began as an autodidact, writing music from a young age. While initially trained as an instrumentalist, his passion for composition led him to pursue formal studies. He embarked on his musical education by studying Composition at the University of Arts in Tirana, followed by further studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, where he studied Music Writing, Composition, Conducting, and Music Technology.

He commenced his formal musical training on classical guitar at the age of 11, expanding his skills through self-guided exploration of other instruments, as well as composition, harmony, and orchestration. Throughout this period, he showcased his talents as a classical guitarist, performing in concerts and festivals, while simultaneously crafting his first compositions for ensembles, solo performances, orchestra, concert band, including incidental music for theatre and melodramas.

Although particularly drawn to a realm between 'pure' sound, noise and silence, and his practice often informed by spectral techniques, his oeuvre traverses diverse musical facets, often blending different stylistic and aesthetic elements. Koçja’s talent has been recognised with numerous accolades. He is a two-time winner of the First Prize of the André Charlier International Piano Composition Competition and Ars Musica (2021, Belgium) and was recently awarded the Annarosa Taddei Prize in Composition by the International Competition Annarosa Taddei (2024, Rome). So far he has worked and collaborated with esteemed orchestras and ensembles, including the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Divertimento Ensemble, FontanaMix Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, and PPCM Graz Ensemble.

His body of work reflects an ongoing endeavour to cultivate his unique artistic language, continually striving to unearth the inner voice of the artist. This tireless quest for musical authenticity has propelled Koçja to explore myriad facets of music, culminating in the development of a distinctive personal style.

Laurent Pigeolet was born in 1969. He began to study the piano at the age of 10 and composition at 15. Graduated of the IMEP and the Conservatories of Brussels, Liège and Mons, Laurent Pigeolet has accumulated now a long experience as a composer, concert pianist, organist, improviser, accompanist and teacher in various musical disciplines: composition, piano, music analysis… His piano teachers were Tatiana Evdokimova, Evgeny Moguilevsky and Jo Alfidi. and he studied composition and orchestration with Claude Ledoux and Denis Pousseur, and electoracoustic music with Annette Vande Gorne. As a performer, he plays with orchestra, in various chamber formations and as a soloist. His extensive repertoire covers all periods from the Middle Ages to contemporary music, including world music and other styles. He is known for the originality of the themes of his programs with original bridges between various aesthetics.