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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.
Georg Philipp Telemann, Sonate en trio
Oskar Böhme, Trumpet Sextet, op. 30
Jeroen Berwaerts, trumpet
Jacques Ibert, Impromptu
Richard Rodgers, My Favorite Things
Jean Francaix, Sonatine
Arthur Hamilton, Cry me a River
Georges Enescu, Légende (1906) for trumpet and piano
Bobby Scott, A Taste of Honey
Dave Brubeck, Blue Rondo a la Turk
Benni Brown, trumpet
Giovanni Weiss, guitar
Akiko Nikami, piano
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, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, 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 Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Belgian National Orchestra as well as with Alexander Melnikov and the Ensemble Resonanz.
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.
2022/2023 season
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Trumpet and large orchestra
Trumpet and chamber orchestra
Trumpet and piano
Signals from Heaven
"With a clear, flexible tone and brilliant technique, he effortlessly mastered the gleaming key motifs, trills, and runs, while also lending powerful expression to the cantabile themes."
DARMSTÄDTER ECHO, on Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, 20/10/2020
"As a soloist, the Belgian trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts – to whom the work is also dedicated – plays with intense musical assuredness. [...] In lieu of virtuosics, Berwaerts performs finely shaded variations of the trumpet's tonal space, which he played in the end without a mouthpiece, dissolving into nothingness, together with the chamber ensemble."
SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, on Toshio Hosokawa's trumpet concerto "Voyage VII”, 14/9/2020
"Jeroen Berwaerts astonished with an incredibly warm and smooth sound together with a deeply felt approach to melodics. [...] The Andante was especially heartfelt, with Berwaerts drawing out and carrying across the phrasing from his innermost depths."
RHEIN-NECKAR-ZEITUNG, 21/2/2020
”The concert opened with Haydn’s familiar Trumpet Concerto, where Berwaerts delivered a captivating solo with golden brilliance, soaring melodies and virtuoso flair. (…) At the afterparty, listeners were treated to Berwaerts’s elegant singing voice in the Brel songs Marieke, Mathilde, Amsterdam and Ne me quitte pas. In his lovely, warm and flexible baritone, he gave a smooth and polished rendition of the songs quite different from Brel’s own rough-around-the-edges performances, but nevertheless captured something of Brel’s anxiety and ecstasy.”
Helsingin Sanomat, 6/12/2019
"He excelled (even as a jazz vocalist) (...) Almost casually, he led [us] cleverly and with a rich vocabulary through the program, which Salaputia Brass played with incredible confidence and passion. (...) Bravissimo!"
Augsburger Allegemeine, 8.10.2018, Peter Urban
"Played with blazing tone by Jeroen Berwaerts, the Trumpet Sonata emerges with particular brilliance."
BBC Music Magazine, John Allison, March 2015
"The real stars, though, are athletic trombonist Gérard Costes, and trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts, who combines lyrical warmth with an intensity that is often breathtaking."
Guardian, Tim Ashley, 22/1/2015
"After the evening in the Laeiszhalle, the audience was above all spellbound by such beautiful music that was never dull but full of spirit and warmth. The soloist Jeroen Berwaerts made two trumpets and a flugelhorn sing in Gruber’s “Busking” with great virtuosity (…) And then, at the end of the concert, Berwaerts started singing. The synthesis of Rameau dance movements and Brel chansons was inspired. There was nothing unoriginal about the way he lit up the concert hall with Brel’s laconic amazement."
Die Welt, 5/6/2014
"From the first to the last note, initially playing the mouthpiece followed by different trumpets and flugelhorns, the Belgian trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts was captivating. (…) He negotiated the musical cliffs with an ease and radiance that belied the feat that the soloist achieved through his playing."
kulturzeitschrift.at, Silvia Thurner, 5/8/2014
"In Haydn’s trumpet concerto in e-flat minor, Jeroen Berwaerts proved once again that his instrument can do more than play fanfares. When one masters this instrument like Jeroen Berwaerts does, Haydn’s concerto is a pearl - a musical stroke of genius that strikes a perfect balance between soloistic virtuosity and harmonious cooperation."
Kölner Zeitung, 25/8/2008
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 Brassaudite, 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