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Jeroen Berwaerts explains what connects him to the brass band tradition, what yoga taught him about breath, and why singing became an essential part of his trumpet recitals.
Salaputia Brass
Jeroen Berwaerts, trumpet
Alexander Melnikov, piano
Ensemble Resonanz
Nationaal Orkest van Belgie
Belgian trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts is a musical force to be reckoned with, whose all-embracing love of music knows no boundaries. Praised for his outstanding technical capabilities and sensitive musicality, his repertoire encompasses every epoch, from baroque to contemporary music and jazz.
He has appeared as a soloist with leading orchestras including the NHK Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, NDR Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre Philharmoniques of Strasbourg and Luxembourg, under conductors such as Alan Gilbert, Yakov Kreizberg, Jun Märkl, and Matthias Pintscher. He is a regular guest of internationally renowned music festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Niedersächsische Musiktage, the Takefu International Music Festival in Japan, Ars Musica in Belgium, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the Rheingau Musik Festival.
Reinvigorating the standard repertoire for trumpet with ingenious programmes and unusual contexts has become Jeroen Berwaerts’ calling card. One such programme places Handel’s Feuerwerksmusik and dances from Rameau’s opera Dardarus alongside chansons by Jacques Brel. The singing roles in such programmes is generally taken up by Jeroen Berwaerts himself, who – alongside his active career as a trumpeter – completed jazz vocal studies at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent.
Jeroen Berwaerts’ extraordinary commitment to contemporary music is evident in the numerous world premieres he has given, including Toshio Hosokawa’s second trumpet concerto Im Nebel and Francesco Filidei’s Carnevale. Following Håkan Hardenberger he was the second trumpeter worldwide to add HK Gruber’s Busking (2007) to his repertoire. In 2019, Jeroen Berwaerts and Håkan Hardenberger premiered Tobias Broström's double concerto for two trumpets Nigredo: The Dark Night of the Soul, co-commissioned by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, BBC Radio 3 (BBC Proms) and the Swedish Radio Orchestra.
This season, concerts are planned with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the wind section of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, as well as with Alexander Melnikov in the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin.
Jeroen Berwaerts’ discography includes Signals from Heaven, recorded with Salaputia Brass, with whom he is trumpeter, jazz-vocalist, and ensemble director. His recording of Paul Hindemith’s trumpet sonata with Alexander Melnikov was released on Harmonia Mundi in 2015. In 2012 he recorded Shostakovich’s Concerto for Piano, Trumpet, and Orchestra under Teodor Currentzis with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the same year he recorded Toshio Hosokawa’s Voyage VII with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.
Jeroen Berwaerts studied with the celebrated trumpet virtuoso Reinhold Friedrich in Karlsruhe. Since 2008, he has been Professor of Trumpet at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover. He is also Professor in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music in London and an official Yamaha Artist.
2021/22 season
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Trumpet and large orchestra
Trumpet and chamber orchestra
Trumpet and piano
Signals from Heaven
3 MOB Pieces by HK Gruber | Jeroen Berwaerts and Tapiola Sinfonietta
Salaputia Brass & Jeroen Berwaerts: Signals from Heaven
V.Brandt / J.Brahms
HK Gruber Busking
Ligeti Mysteries of the Macabre, Jeroen Berwaerts, deFilharmonie Academy, AMUZ
Rameau Brel, Jeroen Berwaerts, deFilharmonie Academy, AMUZ 2016
Jeroen Berwaerts plays Joseph Haydn's trumpet concerto
Jeroen Berwaerts and Yamaha All Stars
Jeroen Berwaerts, Salaputia Brass
audite, 2017, 97.725
Jeroen Berwaerts, Kenichi NakagawaNihon Acoustic Records, 2016
Jeroen Berwaerts, Isabelle Faust, Teunis van der Zwart, Alexander Rudin, Gerard Costes, Alexander MelnikovHarmonia Mundi, 2015
Jeroen Berwaerts, Constantin Ribbentrop, Johannes Unger, NDR BrassFibonacci, 2015
Jeroen Berwaerts, Alexander Melnikov, Isabelle Faust, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Teodor CurrentzisHarmonia Mundi, 2012, LC 7045
Jeroen Berwaerts, Olivier Dartevelle, Rohan de Saram, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Robert HP PlatzNEOS, 2012, LC 15673